Date: April
2006
Title: Displacement
Author: LosingInTranslation
(Jennifer, losingntrnslatn)
Disclaimer: I don’t own it, never have… I just like
playing with the characters from time to time.
Rating: M for Mature (Language and Adult Situations)
Pairings: GSR
Spoilers: Season 5
Summary: Nothing can stay
the same forever, and the lab is about to have more than a few feathers ruffled
with the arrival of a new pathologist in the Morgue. Will Grissom and the Team
be able to handle the changes? And just who is going to come out on top in this
newest conflict. Romance/Angst/Drama/CSIness.
A/N: This was my very first CSI fic and it became
part of a series, so if you like this one check out the rest of the Discovery
Series.
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Chapter 1
The morgue looked just as it
always did; slightly dark, spotless in every way and with Dr. Al Robbins
leaning over a metal table going through his notes before filing his final autopsy
report. The silence would have bothered most people, but Doc Robbins had gotten
used the absence of noise, so when the phone rang he gave it a look like it was
intruding on his space. He reluctantly answered the phone, “Autopsy… Yeah, go
ahead and transfer it over… No, I’ve been expecting the call.”
The older man grabbed his
crutch and ambled over to his desk to take a seat before the called was
transferred in to his line. He reached into the side drawer of the desk and
took out a file. He was just starting to leaf through it when the extension at
his desk rang, “Doc Robbins… Yes, I was glad to hear you were interested… Yes,
it would be for the night position… No, it’s just like any other major city;
nights are very busy around here… Right, you’d be working with an assistant…
No, I don’t know who that will be yet… Right, he might want to move to days
with me… Well, you came highly recommended by your supervisors at
Looking at the doctor over
the top of his glasses, Gil Grissom smirked at the man, “’Not the job most
pathologists are looking for.’ When were going to tell us about the move to
days?”
The doctor shrugged as he
stood up with the aid of his cane, “About the same time I had found someone to
fill the empty slot… Simmons is leaving for
Chapter 2
With his back turned to the
others sitting at the break room table, CSI Nick Stokes was relating the newest
gossip he had overheard at the beginning of his shift. “No, I’m serious… Dr.
Simmons is moving to
As usual he looked very
nonchalant, but CSI Warrick Brown was not buying Nick’s newest story, “I just
don’t see it happening, Bro… Doc Robbins likes his quiet… Besides, who are they
gonna get to put up with Grissom?” CSI Sara Sidle was unable to control her
laughter and nearly choked on the hot tea she was drinking. “See what I mean?
Even Sara’s not buyin’ it.”
Nick just shook his head as
he sat down at the table, “I don’t know, man… Maybe the guy needs a break from the
Bug Man… Of course, I also heard that they are giving him control of the
morgue. Big feather in the cap, ya know?”
Before anyone else could
comment, Supervisor Catherine Willows came into the room to put a stop to the
gossiping, “Don’t you guys have anything better to do than gossip?” She walked
past them to the coffee maker and poured herself a fresh cup. “And for the
record, Al has been asking for days because of his wife and kids.” She turned
around to face them and took a drink from her cup before finishing, “As for the
rest… We’ll just have to wait and see who they hire… Grissom will just have to
behave himself, and so will the rest of us.”
“Exactly,” Grissom chose that
moment to enter the break room with the pink slips of paper denoting assignments.
“We’re all guilty of abusing the Doc, on occasion, so we’ll just have to mind
our manners with whomever they get to fill the position. There aren’t many
pathologists willing to put up with those hours, so it will be a challenge to
find the right person for the job. We have been exceptionally fortunate to have
Doc Robbins on nights all this time, so we’ll just have to do whatever it takes
to make everything work with the new guy.” Grissom handed the slips over to
Catherine for her to review as well, “Anyone have any questions?”
They all looked at each other
with an odd expression, but it was Sara that spoke up, “How about what the
assignments are for tonight?”
Grissom pointed over to
Catherine, “Ask her… I have court in the morning, so I’m off tonight.” And with
that he simply left the break room and everyone staring after him with their
mouths agape.
Once again, it was Sara that
took the initiative to speak, she looked up at Catherine and said, “Taking the
night off?... Where is Grissom, and what have you done with him?”
Chapter 3
Assistant Medical Examiner
David Phillips had just returned from another crime scene (his sixth of the
night) and he just wanted to get away from CSI headquarters for a little while.
His mistake was in trying to leave through the front door. The receptionist
stopped him cold, “DAVID!”
He instantly slumped his
shoulders before turning around to face the woman at the front desk, “Can it
wait, Judy? I was just leaving.”
The diminutive receptionist
stood up behind the desk and pointed at a professional looking woman sitting in
the chairs of the waiting area. “She’s been here for almost an hour, and Doc
Robbins is still in the field. Think you can get her started until he gets
here?”
David looked over at the
woman, and she was just casually reading a magazine, “Started on what?”
The receptionist moved closer
to David and whispered, “She’s the one he’s interviewing today… To replace
him.” As soon as the words penetrated David’s overworked and extremely tired
brain, everything snapped into focus.
Practically smacking his own
head in frustration and surprise, “Right!... Um, yeah, I can give her the tour…
Did Dr. Robbins say when he was going to be back?”
“Last time I called him he
said they were loading up now and should be driving back soon… But he said he
was twenty minutes out.” She looked down at her watch, “That was like ten
minutes ago, so I figure he’s probably twenty to thirty minutes still.”
David shook his head, “Right,
so I’ll get her started and at least let her wait in his office, instead of out
here in the melee.”
The receptionist gave him an
appreciative nod, “Thanks, David… I felt really bad about telling her he still
wasn’t here again.”
Taking a deep breath and
letting it out quickly, David began his walk over to the woman who obviously
had the patience of Job. When he was standing right next to her, she just
looked away from her reading briefly to notice his presence and then placed a
mark over where she had stopped, removed the earphone from her right ear, and
closed the magazine. “It’s okay, I’ve already been helped and I’m just waiting
for my appointment.”
David fumbled a little at her
having spoken first, but he quickly recovered, “Ah.. Um.. No, see, I’m Dr.
Robbins’ assistant. And he’s um, still on scene, but he should be back shortly.
Reception asked me to give you the tour while you wait, and I’ll take you back
to the doctor’s office… So, you can wait where it isn’t quite so busy.”
The woman stood up, and that
was when David realized just how tall she was. Looking up into her face, he
figured her to be at least six feet tall. She extended a hand to him and he
took it, noticing that she definitely had doctor’s hands; closely manicured
nails, worn skin from the powder in the gloves they wore most of the day, and
strong fingers. “Nice to meet you, Dr. Robbins’ Assistant.”
Her words broke David from
his observations, “Oh, um… Sorry, David Phillips, nice to meet you, too.”
“Thanks, David… And don’t
worry, everyone is a little intimidated by my height. It’s probably why I use
wheelie stools in the morgue so much.” Her smile was disarming, and David was
much more at ease now. “Oh, and it’s Stephanie, Stephanie MacInnerney.”
David gestured towards the
entry doors, “Well, then let’s head right this way, Dr. MacInnerney.” They both
walked up to the doors and David took the guest badge from the receptionist and
handed it to this new woman. As the striking woman quickly pinned it to the
lapel of her suit jacket, David mused that this could definitely be an
interesting development for the lab, if this was the woman Dr. Robbins chose to
succeed him.
Reaching the first area, he
peeked in to find no one in the A/V Lab, “This is the A/V Analysis Lab… Archie
is usually in here still, but he must have already finished for the day.”
She took an appraising eye of
the place before commenting, “I imagine being in
David was taken aback by her
observation, “Yeah… That’s what I’m told.” He gestured towards the next area
and she followed his cue.
Walking over to the Print
Lab, David stopped at the door when he saw the day shift person working in
there. When he spoke to the woman now, he was using a hushed voice, “This is
the Print Lab, and the day shift people are not fond of interruptions, so we’ll
just move on now.” The woman chuckled at his apprehension, but she once again
followed his lead.
He peered around the corner
into the Trace Lab, and was relieved to not find anyone in there. The last
thing he wanted this late in the shift was to be dealing with Hodges, “Uh, this
is the Trace Lab, and you will learn to avoid it at all costs.”
She was noticeably intrigued
by his comment. “And why is that, David?” she asked as she looked around the
lab.
“The night shift guy is a
real-.”
“Real nice guy to have
around… Right, David?” Hodges chose that moment to re-enter the lab and place
himself between David and this new woman. Not waiting for David to continue, he
decided to introduce himself, “Hello, I’m David Hodges… One of the senior techs
here at the lab, and a charming delight to have around… And you are?” Hodges
was being his normal, oily self.
“Just visiting.” And with
those two short words, she turned out of the Trace Lab with David slipping
carefully past Hodges and trying not to let his smirk seem too obvious. David
was definitely right; this woman might just be the perfect fit for this place.
The rest of their tour was
fairly uneventful, and with every interaction, David was becoming more and more
convinced that this new development in the morgue might not be as bad as he had
originally envisioned. When Dr. Robbins first told him he would be moving to
days, David was heartbroken. He had never worked with another coroner and was
not looking forward to either. With classes and his fiancé, David knew he would
not be able to follow the doctor to the day shift. And besides, David hated
working with most of the day shift techs, since they seemed to have
unreasonably high opinions of themselves. David decided being caught by the
receptionist was probably the best part of his shift tonight, because it had
given him a unique chance to meet with the person who could very well be his
new boss in a few weeks.
When they finally reached Dr.
Robbins office, David was now feeling comfortable enough to actually look at
this new doctor. He realized that, in addition to being over the six foot
estimation he had made earlier, that she also possessed an athletic build. He
also noticed that her hair was not a deep brown, as he had originally
perceived, but that it was actually a very rich auburn with what seemed to be a
natural curl to it, though he suspected she did something to it to keep it from
becoming as uncontrollably curly as his could get when it was longer. He also
observed that she was quick to smile, which was a trait sorely in short supply
around CSI headquarters. Overall, he surmised that she had a pleasant
disposition and seemed to have a wealth of knowledge regarding the whole
process of forensics. He assumed that she probably had some kind of degree in
forensics, as well as her medical degree. He also realized that she was an
extremely attractive woman, and would have most of the guys around here
standing on their ears with a simple glance.
However, before he could
continue his analysis and start asking her any questions about her background,
Dr. Robbins had finally arrived, “David, Dispatch said that you had taken
charge of my interv-.” Doc Robbins stopped his question as soon as he noticed
the young woman who had just stood up from her seat in his office, “Ah… I guess
they were right… Dr. MacInnerney, I presume?” The doctor stepped towards the
woman with his free hand extended.
“Indeed,” she took the
proffered hand and nodded her head. “Good to see you finally got out of the
field… Busy night?”
The doctor released her hand
and started making his way around to the other side of his desk, “That would be
the understatement of the decade… Any time they get me out of the morgue, it is
more than just busy.” He turned back to David, “David, if you could log in the
last body, you can go ahead and sign off for the day… I know you’ve been going
since about 5PM and you have class tonight.”
David looked visibly relieved
to hear the doctor’s suggestion, “Thank you, Dr. Robbins. I’ll get that done
now.” He turned to the woman, “And it was nice to meet you, Dr. MacInnerney.”
The woman nodded at his
comment, “Likewise, David… And thanks for the tip about Trace.” David was not
certain as he turned to leave the office, but he thought the woman had winked
at him when she commented about Hodges. He thought to himself, And a decent sense of humor; I like her.
Chapter 4
Dr. Robbins was still trying
to catch his breath from his morning jaunt out to a crime scene. It was the
last thing he had planned on today, but poor David had already gone on six
calls that night and had been on the sixth when the call came down from Dispatch.
Day shift had not arrived yet, and the doctor decided he had better take the
call himself. He could only hope that it would not take very long and he could
get back to the office in time for his interview. That was just not in the
cards for him, and he was still fighting to get the body extracted from the
vehicle when he had noticed it was 9AM. He quickly called the front desk of CSI
headquarters to let them know he was running behind, but to have David give the
woman the tour of the facility when he returned from his last case, and he
would be there as soon as he could.
He had been worried about
giving the woman a bad impression of what the job would entail. He was worried,
because during his search for a replacement, he had been sorely disappointed with
the quality of candidates for the position. This woman might have been short on
criminalistic experience, due mostly to her exceptionally young age, but her
other credentials were impeccable. She had only been out of her residency for a
year, but she had spent that year working at the L.A. County Coroner’s Office,
and that meant her experience probably counted for three times that in the
volume of cases worked. After he had started calling her professional
references, he quickly realized that he had a star in the making with this
young woman. She received glowing recommendations from the head of the biology
department at UC – Berkeley. The head of pathology at
He pulled out the folder with
her resume, transcripts and recommendations before he started talking again, “I
really am sorry about being so late… It was simply unavoidable, I’m afraid.”
She just smiled at his
apology, “Unfortunately, people do not like to die at appropriate times, do
they?”
The doctor laughed out loud
at her coroner humor, “Indeed… Terribly rude of them…” He found the page he was
looking for and looked back up at the woman. “I know you have another interview
to get to, so I will try to keep this as short as possible. How much time do
you have?”
She simply shook her head to
dismiss his concerns, “Not a problem at all… My other appointment isn’t until
after lunch, so we’re good to go.”
“Oh, well, I guess this works
out, after all… So, when did you get in to Vegas?” He tried to engage her in
some small talk to put them both at ease, and to get a feeling for her demeanor
and character.
“I managed to catch the last
flight out of
Dr. Robbins was confused,
“And why was that?”
She sat back in the chair as
she responded, “I had court yesterday, and it took longer than I anticipated,
so I had some catching up to do in the morgue before I was able to leave for
the long weekend. Fortunately, my boss has some friends at LAX and they pulled
some strings to get me on that last flight.”
“Ah… Good to have a boss like
that. And speaking of your boss, I had a very interesting conversation with him
yesterday.” He was looking her directly in the eye when he spoke, “It’s not
often that the head of the L.A. County Coroner’s Office takes such an interest
in a rookie coroner, but he had some pretty high praise for your work there,
and seemed genuinely disappointed at the prospect of your leaving.” She had not
flinched, and appeared to be fairly pleased with his comments.
“I’ve learned a great deal
working there, but my personal life dictates that I need to move to
He decided that he would try
to get her to answer a direct question about her personal life, “And what
circumstances are those?”
“Well, it might seem somewhat
old-fashioned, but the fact is, my fiancé is a trauma surgeon and wasn’t able
to match at any of the hospitals in
“Sounds like a pretty good
reason to me.” He turned to her medical school records from UCLA and looked
over his notes from her advisor there, “I see here that you were offered a
pretty substantial position at the
“First off, I think that the
superiority of the positions has more to do with perspective… But mostly, I
would have to say that I didn’t get into pathology to be a clinical
pathologist, as I’m far more interested in the practice of pathology and the
field work that can be found in criminal pathology.” She pondered a moment
before continuing, “And being stuck in a research facility with nothing but
theory to be passionate about is just not a way I can live in a greater world…
I suppose being a cop’s kid, gives you a different taste for life, and a whole
different perspective on the way things work in this world.”
Dr. Robbins chuckled a
little, “Well, you just beat me to my next question… Dr. Pratael told me your
father was a detective. And I was wondering how that affected your decisions.”
“Well, my father was an
Inspector, not a detective… Twenty two years with the San Francisco PD, and a
good many of those as an Inspector with Major Cases.” She spoke with an immense
amount of pride in her voice. “His life has an enormous impact on the choices
I’ve made in my professional career. He was a great man, and had a
fantastically analytical mind as well as gentle soul. I can only hope that he
would be proud of the decisions I’ve made and my choice to follow, somewhat
loosely, in his footsteps.”
Dr. Robbins turned that
information over in his head a moment before asking his next question, “I’m
sorry, I didn’t realize that he had passed… How long has it been?”
“It was a couple years ago,
but he had enjoyed almost two years of retirement with my mother before he died
peacefully in his sleep. Exactly the way he always wanted to go.” Her face took
on a serenity with those words and that pleased Dr. Robbins. It was always good
that anyone in his field had a healthy relationship with death.
“As every good cop dreams…”
Giving that statement the proper amount of time to be cherished, he waited a
moment before continuing his questions, “As I am sure you are aware, I also
spoke with the head of pathology at UCLA, and she was extremely enthusiastic
about your tenure there. You seem to instill a certain amount of admiration in
your superiors. What do you attribute this to?”
That question actually got a
reaction from her, “Wow… That’s the first time someone ever asked me that…
Well, I guess the biggest thing would be my work ethic, and after that, I
imagine it comes from my constant work to improve myself and my skills.” Solid answer, Dr. Robbins had to work
harder if he was going to catch her off-guard.
“Very good…” He now switched
over to her transcripts, “I see you started UC – Berkeley as a sophomore, and
finished early. How did you pull that off?”
“Well, I went to two high
schools so that I could take the maximum number of AP courses, and participate
in the International Baccalaureate program, so I had a little bit of a head
start.” The pride was once again evident in her voice.
The doctor, however, was
stunned with her answer, “How on earth did you manage that one?”
“Well, I have an unbelievable
thirst for knowledge, and a little bit of my father’s workaholic gene, so it
was pretty hard to stop me. And believe me, my mother tried. I was in school
from 6AM until 6PM every day of the week, and for a few hours on Saturday.
Except during basketball season, when I was there until about 9PM.”
Dr. Robbins was shaking his
head, “And that would explain the High School All-American Athlete Award and
why you played basketball at UC- Berkeley for a year… Just how tall are you?”
he asked with a bit of awe in his voice.
“Six foot four…” She chuckled
at the manner in which he had asked the question, “But honestly it never phased
me until I hit high school, because my parents were both fairly tall.”
“How tall were they?”
“Shorter than I ended up
being… Mom was five ten/five eleven, depending on which way the mood struck
her… And Pop was six foot two.”
The doctor decided to make a
joke about his own height and infirmity, “I could be six foot, if I worked at
it.”
“If you wanted to perform a
balancing act twenty four/seven, maybe.” She noticed the somewhat shocked
expression on his face and decided maybe she should not have continued the
joke, “Sorry, I just assumed you were referring to your prosthetics.”
“Well, I was, but how did you
know?” He was genuinely curious how she knew about his amputations.
“Well, I noticed when you
walked in, and your gait pretty much says it all. You’ve had bi-lateral
amputations, right?” She was being completely sincere in her admission.
“Well, yes I did.”
“And I didn’t notice any
obvious signs of diabetes or peripheral circulatory disease, so I would assume
it was an accident of some kind… Correct?” Her analysis was dead on, but he was
at a loss as to how she would have guessed.
He decided that she must have
done some research about him before arriving, “And where did you read about
that? I don’t recall that being part of my general knowledge packet.”
“Well, it was just
observation… I am the daughter of an Inspector, and he used to let me go
through his case files. And when he and his friend would have a tough case,
they would let me sit in on their brainstorming sessions, so I learned a lot
from them growing up… I was pretty much raised to be a criminalist, but I was
also looking for more of a challenge than straight investigative work. I needed
the intricacies of medical science, as well as the stretching of my analytical
mind to find fulfillment in my professional life. That would be why I chose
this field of study.”
Dr. Robbins was thoroughly
impressed with her ability to think on her feet, and from not over-reacting to
his suggestion that she had tried to pull one over on him. “So, why are you
interviewing at UNLV, if you are so committed to this field?”
“That’s easy… It would only be
a temporary job, until I was able to get on somewhere as an M.E… The things we
are willing to sacrifice for in the name of those we love can be a pretty
surprising thing sometimes.” She had a sincerely content expression on her
face, and that actually made him even more certain that he had found his
replacement. This young woman truly had her head on straight, and that was
something sorely needed for working the night shift around this place.
“Well, I was only concerned
about one thing when I was going through your resume and references: the
complete absence of personal references. Is there some reasoning behind that?”
In his mind, this would be the final test of her personality.
“To be honest… I really
didn’t want any of my personal affiliations to influence someone’s decision to
hire me or not. I like to earn the things I accomplish based solely on my own
merits.” Her frankness surprised him more than the answer itself.
“Well, that is one of the
most intriguing answers I have ever heard, but I do respect your wish to base
your selection on merit.”
“If it comes down to a matter
of hiring me or not, I can provide you with some personal references, but I
would prefer to make that disclosure after a decision has been made. I just
don’t want it to be what people see first.” And that was exactly what he needed
to hear.
Dr. Robbins had only one more
question, but he had to come about it in a careful way, “Well, I know that the
position at UNLV has better hours and more money, but I’m curious what your
choice would be, if you were offered both positions.”
“I’ll be honest with you… I
would drop UNLV right now, if I was offered the job here, even if it was only
on a probationary basis.” She took a deep breath before continuing, “LVPD has
one of the best municipal crime labs in the country. And being the daughter of
a cop, I would have to be pretty hard pressed to go into F.B.I. service, so
this is quite possibly my dream job.”
Dr. Robbins chose that moment
to stand up from behind his desk and offered his hand to the young woman. She
rose from her chair, towering over the man, and assumed that it signaled the
interview was over. So, she was completely blown away by the words that came
out of his mouth, “Then let me be the first to welcome you to the Las Vegas
Police Department Crime Lab.”
She was totally speechless by
his comment and stood there a moment holding his hand in her substantial one.
“Um… I’m sorry, did you mean that I got the job?”
“For someone who graduated
with honors from two rather exceptional schools, you should probably understand
that sentence a lot better.” Dr. Robbins started laughing as she began to shake
his hand vigorously. “Congratulations, Dr. MacInnerney… I could keep looking
for someone to fill this position and not find someone even half as perfect a
fit as you are for the job… You have the skills, the knowledge, the sense of
humor and the personal stability needed to succeed in this field, and
especially in this lab. I see no reason to keep looking when I have the chance
to steal you away from Poletano before he even gets to meet you and promises
you the world to keep you from coming back here.”
The young woman was overcome
with joy, but she was finally able to speak her mind, “Thank you very much, Dr.
Robbins… You have absolutely no idea how happy you’ve just made me. I mean
really… I thought this job was a shot in a million for someone with my limited
experience, and I would have practically worked for free to convince you to
hire me.”
“Well, it’s a good thing our
assistant director didn’t hear you say that, because he would have taken you up
on it.” That was when Dr. Robbins’ office door swung open, and Grissom barged
in, “Well, thanks for knocking, but you do have impeccable timing… I’d like you
to meet our new night shift coroner.” She turned around, based on Robbins’
gestures and was just as dumbstruck as Grissom when their eyes met. When they
did not speak or move for a more than a minute, Dr. Robbins decided to break
the stalemate. “I take it you two know each other?”
The young woman was finally
able to break their stare, reached down into her briefcase and handed Dr.
Robbins a sheet of paper, “I think this might help explain.”
Dr. Robbins looked at the
sheet to discover that it was those missing personal references, and at the top
of the list was Dr. Gilbert Grissom; relationship, family.
Grissom was finally able to
shake himself from the shock of seeing her here in Las Vegas, and realized that
Dr. Robbins had just said she was the new coroner, “Steph,” he gestured widly
for a moment around him, “What are you doing in Vegas? What happened in
“Nothing happened in L.A… Or,
at least nothing was going to happen there. You see, Thomas matched at Desert Palms, and I got
tired of living alone…” She paused for a moment and then went immediately on
the defensive, “I swear I was gonna call you tonight after the interviews were
done and you were awake…” She appeared very nervous talking to Grissom, “I just
didn’t want to say anything until I knew I’d be moving, Uncle Gil.”
And there was Dr. Robbins’
answer; Gil Grissom was her uncle. He looked between the two of them and could
not find any resemblance, other than that they were both tall, but their builds
were completely different. Grissom had a solid frame to go with his, and a
little of that middle aged girth that he himself had experienced. But Dr.
MacInnerney had a very trim build, despite her broad shoulders, and her hair,
though curly, held none of the same properties of Grissom’s, especially the
rich auburn color. She also had the deepest green eyes he had ever seen before.
Grissom’s blue eyes might have been striking, but the color was no where near
as deep as hers were, and Dr. Robbins wondered how they could possibly be
related by blood.
Suddenly awakened from his
stupor, Grissom quickly moved in to embrace the young woman, “I just talked to
your Mom last weekend, and she didn’t say a word about this.” When he caught
Dr. Robbins incredulous look, he just gave him that infamous, “oh well” expression
and then held her at arms’ length to get a better look at her.
“That’s because she doesn’t
know just yet… I wanted to be sure about the move before I told her… But
knowing Mom, she’s probably been suspecting as much since Thomas matched six
months ago.” They both laughed at her supposition.
“Hey, wait a sec… You just
hired her?” He looked back at Dr. Robbins.
“Are you kidding? She’s far
and away the best person who applied for the position… And now that I know how she figured out about my legs, I’d
offer her the moon not to reconsider… After all, she’d have to put up with you
on night shift.” He looked around Grissom to catch the young woman’s eye again,
“Are you sure this is still your dream job?”
She laughed out loud that
time, “Are you kidding?! I’ve dreamed of working with Uncle Gil and my father
since I was a little girl… At least I got half my wish.” Grissom squeezed her
hand at the mention of his longtime friend and mentor, as well as her father.
“Well, then you got it…” Dr.
Robbins turned his gaze back at Grissom, “But I thought you were an only child,
Gil?”
“Oh, I am… Stephanie’s father
was a very good friend, and a mentor. He and I worked together on a number of
tough cases when I was in
Dr. Robbins shook his head as
he chuckled, “And I was wondering why she didn’t want to give me her personal
references… Probably because she thought I would assume she was just as
difficult as you are.” Dr. Robbins reached down and grabbed his bag, fumbling
for his cell phone, “And if you don’t mind, my dear, I’d love to break the news
to Poletano myself, before Gil and I take you out for a congratulatory lunch?”
She nodded her agreement to him as he dialed the number. “Tony?... Yeah, it’s
Al Robbins… Yeah, actually I was calling to give you some bad news… I
understand you guys are trying to get a new clinical pathologist over there…
Well, these things leak out, somehow… Well, I was just calling to let you know
that you better keep looking… Didn’t you have a promising interview this afternoon?...
I have my sources… Yes, I am looking for a replacement over here. Well, I was
anyway… Found her this morning… Young gun from the L.A. County Coroner’s
Office… You, too? Really? What was her name?... What do you mean, ‘how do I
know it was a woman?’… Yep, that’s the one… You can cancel that appointment,
Tony… You can disparage my mother all you want, but you should know better than
to not schedule your interviews in the morning around this town… Right, we’ll
talk it over at the next alumni party… Have a great day, Tony.” He turned back
to the pair with his bag in hand and a devilish grin spreading across his face,
“I just love sticking it to that guy.”
Chapter 5
With most of the usual
suspects seated at the break room table, they were just killing time until
their fearless leaders arrived with tonight’s assignments. Everyone had managed
to get through the turmoil of last week unscathed, but Sunday nights always
seemed to bring out the bigger cases, and the weirder cases. Nick was just
about to start in on his strangest Sunday case when Catherine came walking into
the break room carrying the assignment slips. The thing that struck everyone
was that she was alone.
They all looked behind her
with the expectation of Grissom being right there on her heels when she turned
around to see what they were looking at she said, “What?”
Warrick took point on this
one, “Ah, we were just waitin’ for Gris… Where is he?”
“Personal matter.” She had
gone back to flipping through the slips of paper, and did not even look up when
she spoke, “He’ll be in the lab later on… But in the meantime, we have some
scenes to take care of.”
Nick was unable to resist,
“Since when does Grissom do ‘personal?’”
The group laughed it off, but
Catherine noticed that Sara was visibly unsettled by the information. She
decided to glaze over it in order to spare her the embarrassment. “Yeah, yeah…
Catches up to all of us now and then, I guess…” Catherine looked around the
room and tried to spot their lab rat turned CSI, Greg Sanders. “Where’s Greg?”
She gave them her patented tilt of the head to indicate her irritation.
Just as she was about to go
off, Sanders came sliding into the room, “Sorry, sorry, sorry… Got stuck in
Trace, and Hodges just would NOT lay off about that hottie he saw Super Dave
with the other day. I think the creep is obsessed or something.” Greg quickly
took his seat between Sara and Nick, hoping the repercussions of his lateness
would not be too severe, he quickly remembered to give Catherine a quick glance
of the puppy dog eyes he was so good at giving.
“Greg, since you have such an
affection for the lab right now, why don’t you take the supply room and get it
organized. Grissom has that on his list of slow night duties.” Obviously,
Catherine had built up an immunity to that trick, and Greg slumped down in his
chair. “Nick you’ve got a B&E at a warehouse out by McCarran, so remember
to vest up… ‘Rick, you’ve got the shoot out over in your old stomping grounds…
PD requested you specifically, so I imagine the scene is a little hot.”
Shuffling through to the last assignment, she looked up at Sara, “Since Grissom
is on paperwork duty tonight, it looks like you and me are taking the possible
double all the way out at the L.V. Motor
Everyone packed up and headed
out to their respective crime scenes, that is, everyone but Greg Sanders. He
was walking dejectedly off to the Supply Room to get started on his punishment
for the night. He decided that he was going to have to get Hodges back for
this. That guy just gets on my nerves…
What a weenie!
Sara was standing outside in
the parking lot, waiting for Catherine to finish talking to one of the
detectives before they left for their crime scene. She was still a little
disappointed to hear that Grissom was having a personal life. He had been
acting awfully strange lately, what with taking nights off and disappearing
twice in one week. Before she could ponder it any longer, Catherine walked up
and threw the keys to the
Sara just shook her head and
turned to get in on the driver’s side, “Right… Benefits of seniority?”
Catherine was quick to join
the taunting, “Benefits of Superiority.” She shot Sara one of those dangerous
looks, but punctuated it with a raised eyebrow, letting the younger woman know
she was just pulling her chain. “Come on, let’s hit the road. I want to get
back in time to give Greg a little more grief.” This time they both laughed as
the
As they merged onto I-15
northbound from I-515 and headed out to the
Catherine looked up from the
report she was flipping through and surveyed the road in front of them, “Ah,
no, they finished that project last month… Now they have Losee closed off to
fix the mess they made when they diverted the traffic. Makes it a real joy for
me getting past all the extra side road traffic to make it in to work every
night.”
Sara decided to keep up the
small talk a while longer, “I can imagine… I had the same trouble when they
were working on the Vegas Expressway.”
“Oh yeah, that was a real
nightmare…” Catherine put away her report and looked at Sara a while before she
decided to bust her, “So, are we done with the small talk yet? Or do you have
some weather material you want to try before you get around to asking me about
Gil?”
Sara visibly winced at
Catherine’s definitive questioning skills. “That obvious, huh?”
“C’mon… Traffic reports?
Honey, you’re gonna have to do a lot better than that with me.” Catherine just
chuckled at Sara’s feeble attempt of subterfuge.
“Yeah, it was kind of a
stretch… I don’t know, it just seems he’s been acting out of the norm lately…
Do you have any idea what’s up?” Sara was hoping it would appear as general
concern and not the suspicious inquiry it really was.
“I know he was pretty thrown
with all the stuff that happened with Nicky. And mentioned something about
trying to get his life back on track or some crap… But as for tonight, he had
to get someone to the airport kind of last minute. So, no big deal on that one.
Just being Grissom.”
“Why does that always sound
like a big deal?” Sara was not sure she had said those words out loud. Not until
she heard Catherine laugh.
“Because it’s Grissom!”
Chapter 6
Grissom’s black Denali was
driving past the UNLV campus on its way to make an unscheduled pickup from one
of those quaint little townhomes just east of the
His goddaughter would be
living within close proximity to the man who felt like he was mostly without
family. And she was most definitely his family. He had known Stephanie since
she was a toddler, barely out of diapers and already as smart as a whip. When
her father had first introduced him to his beloved daughter, he had called him
“Dr. Grissom.” When she spoke her first words to him, he was unable to refrain
from laughing at her obvious difficulty in saying his last name. Her lisp made
it all but unintelligible, but her tiny little face was determined to get the
word out. And when she scrunched up those emerald green eyes, to spit it out,
one way or the other, Gil actually laughed out loud. The little girl, however,
was not so amused. Her face was turning as red as her Shirley Templesque curly
hair. That was when her mother came to the rescue, and proclaimed that seeing
as he was the reason her father was absent most of the time, that she might as
well call him “Uncle Gil.” The name had stuck, and before long, Gil actually
felt like her uncle. It was no time before he was over for Sunday dinner every
week, and was treated to the same questioning nature of this astoundingly
inquisitive little girl. At her fourth birthday party, “Uncle Gil” got her a
children’s book on identifying the different kinds of bugs. He was surprised
and delighted to discover the following Sunday that she had collected nearly
every bug in the book and had them separated in little baggies and was, not so
patiently, waiting for his arrival so that he could show her, as her father had
promised, how to mount her new collection. She was, in essence, his first
pupil. Absorbing everything he told her like a sponge, he soon learned that
those “age appropriate” books were simply not going to hold her attention any
longer. By the time she had started first grade at the age of five, she was
attempting to read some secondary school text books alongside her “Uncle Gil.”
By the second grade, she was learning high school biology, and had started
reading poetry after “Uncle Gil” had read to her from Shakespeare’s “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream” for her bedtime story. When she entered the ninth
grade, about the time Gil was leaving for Las Vegas, she was already two grades
ahead of the other children her age, having read nearly every piece of classic
literature available, knowing more about biology and chemistry than the
teachers at her high school and having a very observant eye, as well as a
highly analytical mind. She had taken to sitting in on her father’s
brainstorming sessions with Gil when they were working on particularly hard
cases, and would run evidence with them, as well as working on theories. It was
at that point that he and her father had started a bet about what her future
career would be. Gil was convinced that she would be the head of surgery at a
major hospital, and her father was sure she would be the first female Chief
Inspector. And as usual, she was far exceeding both of their expectations.
When he pulled up in front of
the address he had scribbled down on the piece of paper sitting on his
dashboard, he took a moment to put a final note on his thoughts. Not only had
she exceeded their expectations of her, but she had far exceeded their own
lives. This girl had done everything she set out to do without fear and without
regret. They had given her that ability, through their own bad examples. She
grabbed life with both hands and fought for everything she wanted to do and be
and was unapologetic for all of it. He did not think he would have given up
everything to follow his heart as she had done with her planned move to
Just as his thoughts were
threatening to take him to a place that he was usually afraid to go, there was
a sudden knock on his passenger window that made him jump enough to hit his
head and elicit a hearty laugh from the young woman on the other side of the
glass that he had just started to lower. “Sorry, Uncle Gil… I didn’t realize
you were so deep in thought.” She opened the door to the car and tossed her
garment and overnight bags into the backseat before hopping into the SUV and
reaching for her buckle.
“That’s okay… But let’s say
we avoid trying to give the old man his first heart-attack before the age of
fifty, shall we?” Gil put the
“Please! You are not even
close to old yet.” She turned back to face him as he navigated the SUV onto the
street and pulled away from the townhouse. “Mom still calls you ‘The Kid.’ So
you must be doing something right.”
“She got that from your
father…
“Not true… Mom had her
sixtieth last year, so she’s got what; twelve or thirteen years on you?” She
had her face scrunched up into that childlike expression that Gil remembered
from all those years ago as she tried to wriggle the answer from him.
“You might be like your
father in a lot of ways, but you do not have his interrogation skills, kiddo.”
They both laughed her attempt to get his age out of him.
“Hey, you can’t blame a girl
for trying…” She reached behind her to retrieve an envelope from her bag, “I’m
flying out on United. And thanks again for helping out on such short notice.
Thomas got called in to surgery after some kind of gang shooting broke out and
the hospital got hit with six en route.”
“Anytime, Princess…” Gil just
realized that he had called her by the pet name they had for her when she was
just a little girl, and he prepared for the berating he was sure would follow.
However, when he dared to look over at her, she had a very contented expression
on her face, but her stare seemed to be a million miles away. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just haven’t heard
that one in a long time… Not since the last weekend I spent with Mom and Pop.”
Gil was sorry that he had brought up the memory with his slip of the tongue,
“Pop did the same thing you did… Slipped and called me ‘Princess,’ and for the
first time since I had ‘grown up’ I wasn’t mad about it. It felt pretty good
actually.” She just leaned her head against the glass and continued to look out
the window into the nothingness. After a few minutes of silent driving, she
turned to him and a smile spread across her face, “But if you use that name at
work, I’m going to have to kill you… You know that, right?”
Then it was Gil’s turn to
smile, “Oh yeah… You do have your father’s temper, and I never tempted that
fate, so there’s no sense in starting to live dangerously now.” The two enjoyed
the private joke that they shared and the rest of the trip to the airport was
uneventful.
He stopped out in front of
the United door and took her bags out of the SUV before he pulled her into his
arms for a departing hug. As she pulled away, she placed a kiss upon his cheek
and tugged at his beard a little, “Mom was right, Uncle Gil… The beard does
make you look like a professor.”
“Is that a clever way of
saying ‘older?’”
“Not at all… Smarter.” They
both laughed again. She bent down to grab her bags, “Hey Uncle Gil… Do you
think it would be okay if we kept the whole relationship thing quiet at first?”
He raised his eyebrow at her
with that sly questioning look, “And the purpose of this would be?”
She shifted a little uneasily
before she answered, “Well, I don’t want anyone treating me differently because
of who I am to you… I have this thing about standing on my own two feet, ya
know.”
He smirked at her answer, “Oh
yeah… I know all about that one… Your father was furious when you turned down
the admission to Stanford. If it wasn’t for your mother intervening, you’d have
been in a lot of trouble, young lady.”
“Hey, how could I expect to
get a fair break getting a science degree at a school where your mother is a
tenured department head?”
He just nodded his head, “I
understand… And I will keep it under my hat until you give me the high sign.
Fair enough?”
She dropped her bags again
and gave him a big hug this time, “Thanks, Uncle Gil… It really means a lot to
me. I mean, it’s bad enough Dr. Robbins already knows. I’ve already got some
high expectations to live up to as it is.”
“You’ll be fine… And
remember, if you change your mind, the offer to help you drive back still
stands. It’s a long boring drive and it is best done as a team.” He gave her
what he assumed was a fatherly glance, and hoped it would be well received.
“Not a problem… Thomas is
flying out to help me pack and drive back to Vegas. It’s all under control.”
Her smile was infectious and he flashed his own back at her before she grabbed
her bags again and waved at him as she started for the terminal.
Now all he had left to do was
wait two weeks… He was good at waiting…
Chapter 7
She had spent three hours
that day filling out more forms and surveys and legal documents and releases of
information and applications for insurances than she had ever dreamed existed.
Surely, after all of that, she knew that a tree had died in order for her to
get her dream job. When she handed the mound of paperwork over to the personnel
clerk, Dr. Stephanie MacInnerney knew she was taking a monstrous step towards
her new life. After that historical moment, she stopped at the store and got
herself a fruit bowl to take home: the home she now shared with her fiancé. She
had wanted to get a little unpacking done before Thomas woke up and they were
able to spend just a little more time together before she had to be on duty for
her first shift in the morgue. She was still dealing with the after affects of
six and a half months of isolation from the man she loved, and it would still
be a while before they had made up for lost time.
When she arrived at CSI
headquarters that evening, she was really starting to feel the butterflies and
she was ready to get it all over with quickly. She needed to make her
reputation fast in this place, because she was actually going to be working
with her ghost here. At least with the L.A. County Coroner’s she had a little
distance from her father’s reputation, and her name gave her plenty of distance
from good old Uncle Gil as well. But here in the same lab in which he worked,
it was only going to be a matter of time before her secret got out.
After getting her orientation
speech from Dr. Robbins, and she got the full tour of the morgue. it was time
for her to get familiar with her surroundings. She had immediately changed into
the scrubs that David had pre-ordered for her; extra large and extra tall, just
the right size. But it was when she slipped on that blue lab coat with her last
name embroidered on one side and Las Vegas PD Crime Lab on the other side that
she truly felt like this whole thing was not a dream. She sat down on the stool
beside the metal table in the autopsy room and was busy looking through the
procedural guide.
That was how CSI Nick Stokes
found her in the morgue. And without even realizing what he was doing, he
whistled. Not one of those casual whistles, but the kind of crude thing you
heard when a pretty girl walked by a construction site. As soon as the auburn
haired beauty in the lab coat turned to the source of the lewd whistle he knew
he was doomed, and his face showed every ounce of his shame. “I know things are
a lot more relaxed in
“Hey, I’m real sorry… I swear
that was so not intentional.” Nick was failing miserably, and his face was now
turning about fifty shades of red from his total embarrassment.
Sensing that the man before
her had been sufficiently mortified by his own act, she decided to give him a
break, “Right… And I suppose you’ve never done anything like that before, too.”
She gave him one more disapproving glance before she turned back to her manual,
“So, why are you down here?”
The voice that responded was
decidedly feminine, “Because he was looking for an autopsy report… And you
are?” When Stephanie turned back around, she found an older woman with
strawberry blonde hair standing with her hand on her cocked hip and a serious
case of attitude on her face.
“The one who put Dr. Robbins’
reports in the boxes of the people they belonged to after he went home for a
little while.” As she finished speaking she stood up. Sometimes, her height
gave her a serious advantage, as it was doing while she watched both of the
CSI’s follow her ascent with their stares. “And you are?”
Catherine decided that maybe
she should take a different tack with this woman, “Well, I would be Supervisor
Catherine Willows, and you still haven’t answered my question.”
“Good to meet you, Catherine…
Dr. Robbins had some good things to say about you.” Stephanie was holding out
for just a while longer, but she did offer her hand to the woman. As they shook
hands, she looked in Nick’s direction, “I’m surprised you still have those
tendencies with a female supervisor, Mr-?”
The blush had quickly
returned to Nick’s face, and he looked at Catherine for reassurance, but found
that accusatory stare of hers and was now desperate to escape the morgue at all
costs, “Completely Embarrassed and Wanting to Take a Bullet Now.”
Stephanie then extended her
hand to Nick, “Wow, your parents must have really wanted a puppy.” Catherine
was unable to contain the laugh that escaped her lips and Nick began to shrink
back from the two, realizing he was now the brunt of a joke. His only
consolation came from the fact that it would appear as though this new woman in
the morgue was not really going to nail him for the whistle screw up. He shook
her hand and his head.
“Hey, I really am sorry about
that before… I guess my libido overrode my brain on that one. And I’m Nick,
Nick Stokes.” He was still blushing, but it confirmed Stephanie’s suspicions
that it had been an innocent mistake.
“No problem, Nick. But I have
two tips for you… One, I have excellent hearing, and two, I also read lips. So,
I would suggest saving any comments regarding my anatomy to be said far away from me.” Nick was taken aback
by her comment and gave Catherine a look that showed his confusion and shock.
Catherine, sensing the joke,
played along, “Nicky, do we need to have an appropriate behavior in the
workplace lecture?”
“I swear, Cath, it was
nothing like that, honest!” When the two women looked at each other, they were
unable to keep the joke going any longer and burst out laughing. “Oh, okay… I
get it: teach the idiot boy a lesson, huh?”
“Sorry, Nicky, but it sounded
like you needed it.” Catherine turned back to Stephanie, “I would have to say
that you are probably our new coroner, right?”
Still laughing, she tried to
answer, “That would be correct. Stephanie MacInnerney. It’s really nice to meet
you Catherine… Al and Gil had lots of great things to say about you, so I’ve
been looking forward to this.”
Catherine looked a little
surprised, “So, you’ve seen Gil already?”
“Ah, yeah…” That was her
first slip up, and she had to recover fast, “He and Al took me out to lunch
when I was out here for my interview.” She managed to pull that one off pretty
easy, without further incident, but Stephanie knew she would need to be very
careful around this woman if she was going to keep her secret safe.
Nick was still trying to
recover from his shameful introduction to the new coroner, “So, is it doctor,
Stephanie, or what?”
“Well, I’ve been called many
things in my lifetime, but mostly it’s just Stephanie. My age tends to make it
hard for me to pull off the whole title thing.” Stephanie was hoping that he
did not put her height and name together for the inevitable nickname she had
been running from for years. She would be really glad when she got married so
she could drop that last name.
“Thank God! I was really
hoping you didn’t look that good in your thirties.” Catherine’s outburst made
her laugh a little.
“Nope, still working up to
that milestone… In about three and half years.”
That information was just too
good for Nick to pass up, “Damn, girl… You’re already an ME and you’re only
twenty six?!” His
“I’m afraid I was one of
those kids everyone hated growing up. And the overachieving thing just never
seemed to leave me.” Stephanie noticed that they were both looking at her with
curious expressions on their faces.
“Well, you should fit right
in with this bunch… With the exception of me, I would say that describes every
single member of this team.” For Catherine, that was a supreme compliment.
Nick was busy trying to gauge
her height and then something in his brain clicked when he got to the name
embroidered on her lab coat. “Hey! I just thoug-.”
He was pointing at her name
and she knew exactly what he was going to say before it ever came out of his
mouth, so she cut him off, “Don’t even go there, Cowboy… That name is reserved
for my father, and I will not be happy if I hear it’s gotten around.”
Catherine, being Catherine,
suddenly had an epiphany. “Hey Nicky, why don’t you go and get those reports
from our boxes and I’ll meet you in the break room for assignments, okay?”
Nick looked from one woman to
the other and shrugged, “Sure, Cath… See ya up there.”
Catherine watched him leave
the autopsy room and waited until she was certain he was sufficiently out of
range of their conversation before she started. When she turned around to the
striking young woman beside her, she dropped her bombshell, “So, why hide your
relationship to Grissom?”
This time it was Stephanie’s
turn to blanche, “I ah, um, I, well…” She took a deep breath and realized that
she was completely busted this time, “Well, that lasted all of half a day.”
Catherine gave her a puzzled
expression, “Excuse me?”
“Sorry, I figured I had at
least two weeks before it would get out… What tipped you off?” Stephanie
returned to sitting on her stool.
“Well, the nickname actually…
I recognized it.” Catherine shrugged off her question.
“You knew my father?” It was
Stephanie who was confused this time.
“Only by reputation… And
hearing Gil talk about his buddy back in San Fran. He really admired ‘Big Mac’
MacInnerney.” Catherine showed her the tell that got her busted.
“Right… I should have known
Uncle Gil would have told YOU about Pop… Sorry, but I know about you from
reputation, too.” She pulled the other stool over for Catherine to take a seat.
“Look, I don’t suppose I can convince you not to rat me out, can I?”
Catherine thought about it a
moment, “That would depend on why you’re trying to keep it a secret, I guess…
Why are you guys hiding your relationship?”
“Well, I have this
pathological need to prove myself… I gave up a full scholarship to a college
just because my mother was a professor there… Moved to
Catherine chuckled a little,
“Well, it looks like your stubbornness paid off… You came out at the perfect
time to get this job.”
“No kidding! Nothing like
living your dreams… I’ve wanted to work with my Pop and Uncle Gil since I was a
little girl. But what is that saying?” She looked into Catherine’s eyes again.
“’Be careful what you wish
for, little girl; for you may surely get it.’” They both laughed that time, and
Catherine laid a hand on the younger woman’s shoulder as she stood up to leave,
“Don’t worry, honey… They won’t hear about it from me, I swear.” She gave her
that motherly smile, and Stephanie knew she would keep her word.
“Thanks, I really appreciate
that, Catherine.” And with those words, they had formed a bond.
Chapter 8
Everyone was sitting around
the break room table for another round of assignments. Greg was even the first
one there. After his sentence to the Supply Room, he had not been late for a
single shift. They were all patiently waiting for Catherine and Grissom to
arrive.
Grissom was still in his
office and looking at his watch. Catherine was late, and he was getting ready
to hand out the assignments without her. He gathered up the slips and his
clipboard and made his way to the office door. He looked down the hall in
either direction, hoping to see Catherine, but it was no use, so he headed off
to the break room.
He had a lot on his mind
tonight, and he just wanted to sit in his office and out of the line of fire,
but as he went through the slips once more, he knew he would have to work a
scene tonight. There was only one way to get through this night; do it as
quickly as possible and hope for the best.
All eyes were on him when he
entered the break room with his nose in his notes, “Warrick, you’ve got a
possible suicide at the
“What? Am I the B&E King
lately, or what?” He was obviously frustrated.
Grissom looked at him from
over the top of his glasses, “As a matter of fact, yes… Take Greg with you and
let him run the scene… You’re supervising tonight.” He moved his gaze to Greg
when Nick proudly took the slip from his grasp. “And Greg, this is part of your
next evaluation, so-.”
“I know, no screwing around…
By the book, all the way… Got it.” Greg was now under the gun and it showed on
his face.
Grissom returned his nose to
the notes, not looking up as he put his hand out towards Sara with her
assignment slip, “Sara, a smash and grab on the Strip. Shouldn’t take long, so
you’ll be on standby the rest of the night.” He did not look at her, but
continued going through his notes. Several moments passed and it vaguely dawned
on him that it was awfully quiet in there. He looked up from his notes and
around the room, finding only blank faces, so he figured that they were waiting
for something from him.
Just before he dismissed
everyone, Catherine sauntered into the room and was looking over his shoulder.
He gave her a disapproving glance and then turned back to the team, “If there
aren’t any questions, then move out.” Everyone pulled out from the table,
gathered up their belongings and headed out of the room.
He waited for all of them to
be out of the room before talking to Catherine. “Having fun?”
“Sorry, I got caught up in a
new case… What’s left?” She was not going to let on that she knew his little
secret… Not just yet, anyway.
“Well, the DA would like you
to do some follow up on the
“So, am I being supervised
tonight?”
“No, that’s not it, Cath.”
Grissom was being sincere.
“Are you on paper detail?”
Even with his sincerity, she was still suspicious.
“No… I have to handle a
scene… Death with suspicious circumstances, over at the Pike.” Grissom’s smirk
told her everything.
“Right… Well, tell Dad I said
‘Hi.’” She hoisted her bag onto her shoulder, “I’ll be taking the long way out
to the smash and grab then, just to make sure I’m not seen near his place.”
Catherine knew that her newly public relationship with Sam Braun would affect
her job eventually, but she still hated it. Dear
Old Dad had too much real estate in this town for it not to affect the job.
Grissom watched her leave and
felt a little guilty about having to exclude her from the case, but in order to
maintain the integrity of the lab, he had no choice.
He grabbed his kit from his
office on his way out to the parking lot, but was stopped abruptly by Sara as
he exited the building, “Grissom, I don’t appreciate being handled… If you have
a problem with my work, I expect you to come out and tell me.” The anger in her
voice was a match for what he saw playing on her face, but he had no idea where
it was coming from this time.
He shook his head in
confusion as he spoke, “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t need Catherine to
babysit me!” She set her jaw with her statement and Grissom could see the
muscles in her temples twitch with the action.
“Who said she was?” He was
totally confused, and wondered what on earth could make her think that was what
he was doing.
“She just told me she’s
coming along for the smash and grab and having me help her do some follow up
for the DA’s office… What else am I supposed to believe?”
He took the same posture as
before when he answered her, and just shook his head a little when he spoke,
“That I have to keep her busy while I run a scene at the Pike, and keep her out
of the loop because of a conflict of interest? I shouldn’t have to tell you how
important maintaining the integrity of the lab is, Sara.” Sara’s face instantly
flushed with his answer, but Grissom was still as confused as ever.
“I ah… I’m… Look, I… Okay…”
She was completely flustered and could not think of a single thing to say to
get out of it. She searched her mind for something; anything to respond intelligently
to something that she clearly should have seen. But all the color drained out
of her face when she saw Catherine walking towards them, and in a panic she
just turned away and said, “I’m sorry,” so that he could not see the pain in
her eyes.
She quickly walked away,
leaving him to speak with Catherine, who had stopped to figure out what his
dumbfounded expression was about, “Gil, are you trying to catch flies with that
look?”
He snapped back to reality
and answered with nothing more than, “Huh?”
Catherine just shook her head
and laughed, “Nevermind… Must have been Sara.” And with that she walked away
chuckling to herself.
The only thought that crossed
Grissom’s mind was “I will never understand the female of the species.”
Chapter 9
The boys were sitting around
the break room table, each with their paperwork in front of them, diligently
working away the rest of the shift. For a change, they were experiencing a slow
night. Each of them had gotten back from their scenes with minimal effort and
all but Grissom had put their cases to bed already. Grissom was safely away
from this room though, and so as boys are known to do, they were trading
stories.
As Greg was relating a tale
from his most recent trip to the clubs, Warrick sat with his head down and a
cat-bird look on his face, only smirking from time to time to show Greg that he
was paying attention to his little story. Once Greg had finished regaling them
with his dance floor antics, his curiosity had gotten the better of him. “Hey
War… What’s that look for, man?” He nudged Nick when he spoke to show him the
cagey look on Warrick’s face.
“Yeah, Bro… Yer bein’ awful
quiet tonight. Wha’cha got cookin’, man?” Nick was now curious too.
Warrick looked up from his
report and raised his eyebrow at them both, “Not as much as you got, Bro.”
His cryptic response was
directed at Nick, and he had no idea why, so he pressed for more information,
“C’mon… What’s that about?”
Warrick looked back down at
his report before he started speaking, “Oh nothing… I just had a real
interesting conversation down in autopsy.” All the blood left Nick’s face with
his friend’s statement. “Yeah, thought you might know ‘bout that one, buddy.”
Warrick was laughing now, that deep, resonating laugh that could be felt more than
heard by many people.
Greg’s curiosity was in
overdrive now, “Oh, no you don’t… You gotta spill now, Warrick.”
“Spill what?” Catherine and
Sara had just walked into the break room and Catherine made her way straight
for the coffee pot. Reached over for her cup and then started to pour the brown
liquid of life as she turned around, “Oh wait, from your silence, am I to
assume you boys are having a little ‘guy talk?’” She looked at each of their
faces, and although Nick and Greg both looked like deer caught in the
headlights (a familiar sight for Nick today), Warrick’s expression was the most
intriguing to her. He looked like he had a juicy secret and it was just busting
to be told. “Warrick, anything you’d like share with the class?”
Sara, too, caught on to
Catherine’s suspicions and joined in on the assault, “Yeah, War’… I’d be
interested to know what has given you that evil glint in your eyes.”
He leaned back in his seat
and raised his hands in a sign of surrender, “No evil at all, ladies… Just
heard a real interesting story about our boy Nicky down in autopsy.”
Catherine laughed right out
loud that time, and turned back to put the coffee pot down, “Oh, I think I
already know this story.”
That was just a little more
than Sara could pass up, “Oh, no. Now you better start talking… I gotta hear
this one.” Sara sat down and crossed her arms over her chest to show that she
was not going to budge on this one.
Nick shrunk back in defeat
and Warrick just chuckled, “Sorry, Bro, but I just gotta do you bad this time.”
Warrick returned to his forward position in his seat before starting, “You see…
Seems Ole’ Nicky Boy managed to stick his foot in his mouth all the up to his
hip socket before shift tonight.” He looked around the room to make sure
everyone was paying attention, “Anybody else been down to autopsy tonight?”
The all shook their heads,
but Sara was the one to speak up, “You and Grissom are the only ones with DB’s
tonight.”
He nodded his head when he
realized his mistake, “Right, so you guys knew that Doc Robbins was moving to
days, right?” He waited for their nods before continuing, “Anyway, the new ME
started tonight… And let me tell you, I can understand why my boy lost it down
there, but the way he lost it was classic.”
Greg interrupted, “Who’s the new
ME?”
Nick decided he might as well
join in since he was going to be heckled no matter what now, “You remember that
hottie that was getting the tour a couple weeks ago?”
“The one in Archie’s
surveillance vids?” Greg leaned even further forward in his chair with his
anticipation.
“Bingo… Well, those vids
ain’t even in the same ballpark as the real deal, my man.” Nick leaned back,
knowing that was his only argument for his actions, so he might as well sit
back and enjoy the ride of his ridicule.
Greg was thoroughly
impressed, and Warrick decided to push forward in his tale, “So anyway, seems
Nicky Boy was unable to contain himself when he saw the new ME and pulled a
construction style wolf-whistle at the honey.”
“Ohhhhhhhh!” Everyone in the
room groaned out loud as Nick just cringed in his seat.
“I don’t know where my brain
was, guys… It just came out of my mouth before I even realized it.” Nick was,
once again, turning fifty shades of red.
“Sounds like typical male
behavior to me, Nicky.” Detective Jim Brass was standing in the doorway to the
break room and leaning against the door jam with his arms folded over his
chest. He had obviously heard the whole story, so Nick was sure the entire
department would know about his little escapade before long.
Warrick was the first to
address the man, “Hey, Brass… Have you met the new ME, yet, man?”
“No, I can’t say as I’ve had
the pleasure.”
Warrick shook his head,
“Well, she knows about you, man… Came out from L.A., and I guess she knows your
Lady Captain friend.”
Jim nodded his head and
shrugged it off, “I can see that… Guess I’ll have to pay my respects.” He
turned to leave, but then turned back to the room, “’Respects’, Nicky… Not cat
calls.” And with a sly wink of his eye, he was headed down the hall and left
the break room in another fit of laughter.
Nick was just going to have
to resign himself to being the brunt of their jokes for a while. There was no
way they were going to let this one lie anytime soon.
Chapter 10
For a week that had started
out so well, it was not ending up that way. Stephanie had just posted her
seventh body of the night, plus she had changed into her third set of scrubs
and it was not over yet. She was just about to sit down at her desk to finally
eat her salad when she leaned forward and reached over the desk for the notes
from the last case to read over while she ate. And before she knew it, there
was a loud clang on the tile floor. She closed her eyes tightly and winced,
because she just knew that had to have been her salad hitting the floor and
flying all over the place.
“Dammit!” She let out a huge
sigh, dropping the report back on her desk and planting her elbow down so that
she could properly grip her brow while she tried to fight back the urge to
throw something: something heavy and loud.
“It can’t possibly be that
bad.” Catherine said as she entered the young woman’s office, and then she
looked down at the mess, “Or I could be wrong… Need a little help?” Catherine
bent down to retrieve the bowl from her side of the desk.
Stephanie reached over for
the trash can and brought it to the other side as she kneeled down on the floor
to clean up the spillage, “Sorry, it’s just been one of those days, and-.” She
gestured at her clothes, “I’ll be changing into yet ANOTHER set of scrubs… Lovely.”
Catherine could not help but
laugh at the young woman’s predicament. “Well, I hate to add to the fun, but…
You wouldn’t happen to have the prelim on my DB from earlier?”
She sat back on her haunches,
let out another huge sigh and thought about her answer a moment before she
spoke, “Cassen, twenty year old female, suspected OD?”
Catherine shot her a
dumbfounded expression, “Yes, and how the hell did you do that?”
“Tsk… It’s a gift… And a
curse. Once it goes it in, it never comes out.” She reached out to balance
herself on the edge of her desk and peeked over the top of it until she found
what she was looking for, wiped her hand on her top and grabbed the folder to
hand to Catherine. “First off, you can forget about the OD… She didn’t have
time.” She scooped up the last of the mess on the floor and deposited it in the
waste can. “The seven cc’s of hemorrhaged blood I took out of the base of her
skull is probably related to her COD.”
“You’re kidding me!”
Catherine started flipping through the preliminary report to look over the
findings. She soon found herself alone in the office, as Stephanie had already
walked out into the autopsy room.
She called back from the
autopsy room, “Yeah, I was pretty shocked, too. But David noticed an aberration
in the skull when he was cleaning the body.” She noticed that Catherine had
emerged from the office with the report in her hands and was listening
intently, so she stopped speaking with quite so much volume, “It wasn’t soft,
or showing any contusions or lacerations.” She was looking through the index of
the drawers she was standing next to, “However, the occipital bone was avulsed,
which was probably the result of some kind of childhood trauma. Since that’s
the only time the skull could have been soft enough to produce an avulsion.”
She found the one she was looking for, dropped the book and opened the drawer
containing the body in question, “Might have even happened during childbirth,
but without causing any obvious brain injury, it would never have been noticed.
And I found no evidence of Cerebral Palsy, so that’s not going to help you at
all.” She pulled the sheet back and found that Catherine was right next to her
when she looked up, “I’m still waiting for tox to come back, but those pills in
her stomach appeared to be nothing more than aspirins, and mostly undigested
ones at that. I’m going to say, that judging from the rounding of her face, and
the amount of fluid I found throughout her system, that she was high on high
doses of a steroid. And it probably raised her blood pressure and caused the
bleed.”
That was too much for
Catherine, she just had to know how she came to that conclusion without a tox
screen, “Okay, now how can you say that without a tox screen?!”
“Cushing’s.”
“Cushing’s? What the hell
kind of answer is that?” Catherine’s face was contorted with incredulity and
she had subconsciously thrown her hand to her cocked hip in defiance of this
conclusion.
“Yeah, Cushing’s Syndrome?
They also call it ‘Moon Face.’ Comes from high does of steroids, typically seen
in people with some kinds of kidney disease. Usually at the point of kidney
failure. Though I have also seen it in cases of chronic acute asthmatics, as
well.” Her matter of fact diagnosis simply blew Catherine away.
She stood there shaking her
head at the look on the young woman’s face. As though her conclusion was
nothing special at all, “Well damn girl! Now I can see why Al was so hot to
scoop you up.”
Stephanie was confused now,
“What? I don’t get it.”
Catherine was laughing at the
ridiculousness of the whole thing, “Oh yeah, you’re definitely related to
Grissom. Blood or not, you are just like him.” Even though Stephanie did not
understand why Catherine had made that connection, she still laughed, because
she knew it was true. She and Gil had had whole conversations where no one else
in the room had a clue what they were talking about, and more times than not,
someone would make a joke that neither of them understood. They truly were
birds of a feather in many ways.
“What can I say? I had my
first bug collection at four years old.” Stephanie chose to join in on the
joke.
“This is going to be soooo
much fun having both of you working cases.” Catherine patted her on the
shoulder as she shut the drawer and they started walking back through the
Autopsy Room. “So, I take it that was your lunch all over the floor in there?”
“Busted.”
“Well, then why don’t you
take a break and come get something to eat with me before the tox comes back?”
Catherine had decided during that exchange that this young woman was someone
she could easily warm to, and she had also noticed that she had not really left
the morgue all week. Her maternal instincts told her that Stephanie needed a
little push to get her out and about.
“You know what? That sounds
like a gr-.” She was interrupted by the entrance of David, pushing yet another
body into the morgue.
“Catherine, Dr. MacInnerney…”
David shuffled past the two women and continued about his business.
She saw Stephanie visibly
slump her broad shoulders, “Like a great idea for another night. Sorry, but it
looks like I have some more work to get to.” She gave a faint smile, “Thanks
for the offer, though.”
She patted Stephanie on the
back and tilted her head to the side, “Don’t sweat it… I’ll pick you up
something and bring it down… You can pick it up next time.” She added that last
part with a wink and this time Stephanie had a genuine smile.
“That’s sweet… Thanks for
everything, Catherine… It means a lot.”
As Catherine was walking out
of the morgue she amended her earlier statement. Stephanie was not just like
Grissom, she was better. Grissom would have never been able to admit something
like that to a perfect stranger.
Chapter 11
The last day of her first
week and her car simply did not start. She had known the old girl was getting
up there, but had never failed her in all their years together. Sure, the car
was starting to show some wear and tear; it was older than she was after all,
had seen more miles than any ten cars, and was never what anyone would have
called good looking. But that car had been a part of her family, and it was
practically her older sister. That day, however, her sister was sitting
lifeless in front of their townhome, and Stephanie still had to get to work.
She had been growing
frustrated at work and she was not used to that feeling, so every little thing
that had gone wrong that week was starting to wear her down. The car was just
the last straw. She should have known, because she had just driven a thirty
three year old VW Thing the nearly three hundred miles from L.A. to Las Vegas,
stuffed to the gills with everything she owned and pulling a U-Haul trailer.
But unfortunately, all of that did not matter at the moment, what mattered was
that someone answered their phone so that she was able get a ride to work, and
for the third time in a row Thomas’ cell had gone straight to voicemail, so she
then started fumbling through numbers trying to find the surgical service’s
number so she could have him paged.
She nearly jumped on the
phone when it suddenly starting ringing, “Hello?!... Thomas, thank god. You got
my message?... No, it’s not flooded, because it won’t even turn over, and the battery
isn’t dead either… Of course I know the difference… Thomas, there is nothing I
can do with the car, and certainly not an hour before I have to be to work… No,
I know you’re just trying to be rational… I’m not in the mood to be rational…
How long do you figure it would take me on the bike?... No, I know I don’t know
the trails around here at all, but I was just going to take the same way I
drive… I don’t know what the neighborhood is like, I only drive through it…
Okay, okay, so I’ll take a cab… No, I was gonna hit the ATM on my way to work…
Don’t you have any in the-… Well, I guess I could call him… Are you sure you
can’t get away?... No, I understand… Let me try him and see if he hasn’t left
yet… Okay, love you too… Bye.”
She hung up the phone and took
a deep breath, blowing it out quickly before she looked down at the phone
again. She hung up the receiver and pulled her cell phone from her pocket,
dialing the number with great reluctance she punched the last key. She let out
another deep breath as the phone started ringing. When the answering machine
picked up the last of her hope started to fade. She waited until the greeting
ended and decided to leave a message anyway, “Hey Uncle Gil, I was just calling
to see if you hadn’t left yet. I was having some trouble, and was hoping to
catch you before I-.”
She was surprised when the
line clicked and she could hear him clearing his throat, “Oh man, you have no
idea how glad I am you’re still at home.” Her relief at hearing his voice was
unbelievable. “Yeah, I am in desperate need of a ride to work today… Yeah, my
car is toast. I think the drive from L.A. may have been its last hurrah… I can
be ready whenever you are… Yeah, fifteen minutes is totally doable. Thanks a
million… See you outside.”
She quickly put everything
back into her backpack, and went back into the kitchen and made another
breakfast bagel to give to her savior. She grabbed another hard-boiled egg,
sliced it and placed it between the halves of the toasted bagel along with the ham
and cheese slices. Once she had the sandwich assembled she carefully wrapped it
up in plastic, Stephanie put it alongside hers inside the lunch box. When she
was putting everything else away she reached back into the fridge to retrieve
another orange juice to go with the sandwich.
She looked down at her watch
and realized she had better get out the door to wait for her ride. She had
literally just closed the door behind her when the black Denali pulled up in
their driveway behind the guilty vehicle. Gil was already out of the car when
she turned around, “Well, no wonder you’re having car trouble, Stephie… I’m
surprised that beast is still on all four wheels!” He was shaking his head at
the humor of the whole thing.
“Hey, you’re talking about
family, ya know,” she was trying to downplay her desperation, because she had
not wanted to explain everything to him. The problem was, she was truly on the
brink. A new job with a lot more pressure and responsibility, worrying about
doing a good job before people found out who she was, living with Thomas
full-time again, the wedding plans that were painfully overdue and now the car;
it was a lot more than she ever thought it would be and it was starting to be
too much. As he got closer to her she started to feel the weight of it all more
and more. When he opened up his arms to gesture at the car she had finally lost
all control and sunk into his embrace.
Gil was standing there in
total shock, but for some reason his instincts had kicked in and he just held
her close and stroked her back. When the sobs started he tried to talk to her,
“Hey now… What’s all this about?” She just continued to sob and he reached over
to the parked car, opened the door and moved her around to get her to sit down
before her legs gave way. He took the handkerchief out of his pocket, crouched
down in front of her and wiped away her tears before he handed it to her.
“Okay, now let’s try this again… What has you so worked up, Princess?”
She sniffled one last time
before she started, “I’m sorry, Uncle Gil… I really didn’t want to come unglued
like this.”
He wiped a stray tear from
her cheek and then tucked a finger under her chin to lift it up so that they
could look eye to eye. “Some times, we just need to let it all out.” The wisdom
of his words struck him as ironic, since he was probably the single most guilty
party for holding everything inside. When she nodded her head in agreement he
thought to himself that she was so much smarter and wiser than he ever was.
“So, you want to tell me what brought all of this on?”
“I don’t want to make you
late or anything, so how about we do this in the car on the way in?” She had
begun getting her composure back and he nodded his head as he slowly stood up
from his crouched position. He then held out his hand to help her to her feet.
Once they were safely in the
Denali and on their way down the street he stole a brief look over at her and
she let go of a deep breath. “Yeah, the story, huh?” When he tipped his head
forward she chuckled, “Okay, well… It’s not really been the week I was hoping
for, I guess. And I was really trying to handle everything and not make a big
deal of anything, but with everything happening so fast and all, the pressure
just got to be really bad, and then the car dying was the last thing I needed
today.” She looked out the window as she continued, “I guess this is what
happens when everything you ever wished for happens… All in the same week.”
Gil cocked an eyebrow at her
last statement, “Everything you wished for?”
“Are you kidding?! Of course!
I’m running my own autopsy room, I’m sharing a home with the love of my life,
planning a wedding, and working alongside one of my childhood heroes… Not to
mention putting the finishing touches on my first professional solo research
paper for publication.”
“Wait, you’re being
published? Why didn’t you tell me?” Only Gil would key on what most would have
been considered the lesser of all evils.
“Sorry, I wanted to wait
until I got the final word before I told you… Just in case they laughed when I
presented the final product.” Gil had to laugh at her humility, because it
reminded him so much of her mother.
“Only you, Steph… Only you.”
He shook his head as he laughed, and then it dawned on him that she had said planning a wedding. “What wedding?”
“Huh?”
“You said, ‘planning a
wedding.’ Whose wedding?” Gil was serious, and even though he was fairly
certain whose wedding it was, he had to hear it from her before he could
believe it.
“Whose do you think, Uncle
Gil? Thomas and I both agreed that we would wait until we could be together
before we started worrying about the actual wedding. And this morning we agreed
that was now, so we called Mom and started making plans… I just had no idea how
big a deal that was until we actually started talking about the plans. I’m
really surprised anyone ever goes through with this stuff, Uncle Gil… I mean
really, who needs those headaches?”
She was talking at a mile and
half a minute, and it gave Gil a warm feeling as he laughed. “I think that’s one of the many draws of the
Vegas wedding chapels.”
“Not with MY mother!” They
both laughed that time. “And with work being so much more than I ever imagined
it would be, and the wedding stuff still fresh in my mind, and Thomas having to
leave early today, and then the car, which by the way is still the coolest car
ever made, so you better take everything you said back, or I’m telling Mom.”
She finally took a breath when she saw the informational sign telling them they
were nearing the municipal center. “Wow… That actually feels a lot better… I
hate it when Mom is right ALL the time.”
Gil was confused by her final
remark, “What was she right about this time?”
Stephanie just looked at him
with surprise, “Oh please! Tell me you don’t remember her always saying, ‘If
you don’t talk about it, then how are you ever going to solve the problem?’”
They were both laughing again
when they pulled in to the parking lot, “I remember now… And that reminds me
about something else she used to say.” Stephanie looked him in the eye to hear
what he had to say, “She used to tell me that I needed to stop now and then and
take a good look around at what I had, or one day it would all be gone and I
wouldn’t even remember what had been there in the first place.”
The faraway look in his eyes
nearly made Stephanie want to cry again, but instead, she chose to do the one
thing Gil was not anticipating: she leaned over in the car, kissed him on the
cheek and said, “I love you, Uncle Gil.”
He blushed at her gesture,
and gave her one of his crooked smiles. With one last deep breath, she opened
the door to the Denali and hopped out with her backpack and lunch box in hand.
Suddenly, she slapped her forehead and started rifling through her lunch box,
“I almost forgot!” She pulled out a small paper bag and handed it to him
proudly. “I made you breakfast. Toasted bagel with hard-boiled egg (minus the
yolk, of course), a thick slice of lean honey ham and a slice of sharp cheddar
cheese. And of course some O.J. and if you want to have the sandwich warm, all
you have to do is pop it in the microwave for fifteen seconds.” The beaming
smile she gave him as she described the well-balanced breakfast she had made
for him before his arrival today was even better than the food she was
describing.
Taking the paper bag from her
outstretched hand, he bowed his head and said without any thought to anyone
within earshot, “Thank you, Princess. Probably the best meal I’ve had in a
week.” She smiled again and waved goodbye as she practically skipped into the
building while he watched from behind the wheel of the SUV.
So caught up in the reverie
of watching his first pupil bound away into the front door, there was one thing
he did not realize: that two spaces away someone else witnessed the whole scene
unfold. Someone with soft, curly, brown hair and deep brown eyes; glassy with
unshed tears.
Chapter 12
Nick had convinced Sara to go
down to autopsy ahead of him to help him out with the new medical examiner, but
she was not happy about him passing off autopsy work on her. She had spent most
of the week either in court, chasing dead leads on the smash and grab or
working yet another burglary, so she had yet to meet the new doctor. Her shift
had also started out bad (Beyond bad, she
thought) before she had even clocked in and she did not think she would make
the best impression after all of that. Plus, she hated being in autopsy ever
since she had become a vegetarian, but for Nick, she guessed she would make the
sacrifice and just hope for the best. She was happy to find out it was a woman
though, because they were always outnumbered at CSI headquarters, so it was
comforting to think the balance might have finally shifted.
She pushed through the doors
and looked around the room for the doctor. When Sara did not find anyone in the
immediate vicinity she figured that it might be good to announce her presence,
so as not to spook anyone. Just as she was about to call out, David came
through the double doors of the big cooler, “Oh hey, Sara. Did you need
something?” it was obvious from his dress that he was on his way out the door
for a pick up.
“Ah, yeah, David. Where’s the
new ME? I need a prelim on a DB that came in earlier.” She looked around the
room again casually.
“Oh, she stepped away for a
minute, but she should be back any moment. You want me to stick around for the
introductions?” David was peeking at his watch while he spoke with Sara, so she
knew he was probably in a hurry to get to a scene.
After some thought, she
decided not to take him up on his offer, “Nah, that’s okay, David… I think I
can handle it. You can go ahead.”
He was visibly relieved,
“Thanks… Catherine is very impatient and I’m not wanting to be on her bad side
for next week, too.” David was already scuttling out of the autopsy room when
he spoke the last words, leaving her to face the woman alone.
She stood there with her
hands in her back pockets, rocking back and forth on her heels a moment when
she heard a sound coming from the office. She craned her neck around to find
the back of someone slipping on a fresh scrubs top, but when that person’s deep
red hair popped out through the collar of the shirt, her breath was caught
tightly in her throat and she was instantly nauseous. It’s HER!
Before she had even a split
second to flee the room, the woman was suddenly out of the office and had
called out to her, “Hey, if you’re looking for David, you just missed him.”
Sara had to think fast and
she had to say something, instead of standing there like a deer caught in the
headlights and her mouth hanging open like a beached trout. “Ah… Um.. No… Not
looking for David.”
“Oh, sorry… I guess I just
figured you were his fiancé.” She waited for Sara to speak again, and when the
uncomfortable silence continued, she spoke, “So, is there something I can do
for you?” She walked over to the silent woman who was staring at her like she
had six heads, and zeroed in on her name badge as she got closer. “Sara Sidle…
Oh, you’re another CSI… Night Shift?”
That snapped Sara out of her
catatonia, “Um, yeah, Night shift… I was looking for the um… The ah.. The
prelim on the ummm.. The Francosi case, d- do you have it yet?” Right about
now, Sara wished she had a good stiff drink. She was sure she had just made a
complete ass out of herself.
The doctor put her hand up to
her forehead and rubbed at it, as though she was trying to produce the
information from it, “Um, Francosi, twenty five year old female, suspected OD,
right?”
“Ah, yeah, that’s the one.
W-We needed to get the prelim so that w-we could get started on the case.” Sara
felt like a complete amateur at that moment: like she needed to tell a medical
examiner why she needed the report.
“Sure,” she turned around to
the table behind her and fumbled with some folders. “A-Ha! Here it is.” She
turned back and handed Sara the folder.
Needing something to do, Sara
opened the folder and tried to start looking through the notes, without really
reading them, just needing to look away from the very tall and very beautiful,
auburn headed woman in front of her.
Stephanie figured the woman
was just going to flip through the report there in the autopsy room, in case
she had any questions off the bat. So, to keep herself busy, and try to get
ahead of the mess that had been building in the morgue all shift, she sat down
at the table and worked on another report. She knew that Catherine would be
looking for her preliminary report from her first case of the night when she
returned to the lab with her last one, so she wanted to have it ready before
she started on the next body. Stephanie still had three bodies waiting in queue
from when she came in tonight. Apparently the swing shift coroner had called in
sick and she was expected to deal with it on her own. The only good news was that
David had spoke with Dr. Robbins and he had mentioned that he would be coming
in early to help her catch up, so she only had another three hours to tough it
out alone. If only she could keep the bodies from piling up. David was already
on the road to pick up the newest one, and she was sure that she would come
unglued if Dispatch called her one more time tonight.
The only bright spot in her
day was her drive in with Gil. She felt safe with him, and as soon as she took
one look into his deep blue eyes her entire resolve had melted away, just like
it would when she was a little girl. Uncle Gil had always been her ‘saviour,’
and today had not been any different. Perfect
timing, as always. She realized just how much she had missed him (and her
father) that night he had taken her to the airport on her first trip to Las
Vegas. And with the wedding plans getting into full swing, she knew just what
she was going to have to do, and now she just had to figure out how. As she was
pondering everything that had happened, she reached over the table for the rest
of her notes and became completely lost in her work, and totally forgot about
the woman standing in the room with her.
Sara finally made herself
focus on the report in her hands, and started scanning it for the cause of
death. When she found it, she was dumbfounded. “Natural causes,” she whispered
under her breath. “Hey, what’s with this COD?”
The young doctor did not even
blink when Sara had asked her question, and that was getting under her skin.
Was it not enough that this woman was taking Grissom away from her, but she was
going to ignore her, too? Well, that was just something that Sara would not
take lying down, “HEY!”
Stephanie was suddenly
reminded there was someone else in the room and her head popped up to find the
source of the sound, “Oh, sorry… Got caught up in it again, I guess… Did you
have a question?”
“Yeah, what’s with the COD?”
Sara was holding the report in one hand and had her other planted firmly on her
cocked hip.
“Nothing… There just wasn’t
any foul play. Unless you count bad genes.” Stephanie returned her attention to
the report in front of her.
Sara was quickly becoming
indignant, and started looking through the report for the toxicology results,
“Where’s the tox report?”
“Huh?” Stephanie looked up
again, “Oh, it ah... It hasn’t come back yet, but it won’t change the cause of
death. She didn’t OD.” Stephanie was starting to feel like her skills were
being called into question, and her bile was starting to rise.
“Doc Robbins does not give
any reports without tox results… Just how new are you?” Sara sent a direct stab
in the doctor’s direction.
“Excuse me?” Stephanie was
doing her level best to maintain her composure, but this woman was coming
perilously close to getting a what for from her. With her patience being on the
jagged edge already, the last thing she needed was some investigator
questioning her ability to perform her job.
“How on earth can you sit
there and tell me that the COD is not an overdose if you haven’t even seen the
damn toxicology report?” Every word that came out of Sara’s mouth dripped with
her disdain of the woman before her, and she was in no mood to hide it.
Standing up from her chair,
Stephanie had finally had enough of the woman’s inflammatory questions, “I’ll
tell you what, when I see an ‘MD’ following that name on your badge, maybe then
I’ll take the time to explain to you what I learned after four years of intense
training in medical school, two years of demanding clinical research as a
resident, and a year spent in the L.A. County Coroner’s Office posting eight to
ten bodies a night… But until then, maybe you should just read the damn report
and trust that an expert in her field knows more about cause of death than a
frigging investigator!”
The look on Sara’s face was
all that Stephanie needed to see to know that she had just crossed the line.
And when Sara turned to walk out, Stephanie reached out and put a hand on her
shoulder to make her stop. “Wait.” She let out a deep breath that she had
apparently been holding, “Look, I’m sorry for blowing up like that… I’m having
a day from hell, and I’m still adjusting to everything here and at home, so I
probably should’ve stepped out before I went off like that.” Sara turned around,
fully prepared to lay into the younger woman with both barrels, “And I’m really
sorry for jumping down your throat like that… I’m sure Gil has taught you guys
to question everything.” Hearing her use his first name like that made her
heart contract, “If you could just give me a minute to pull myself back
together, then I’ll be happy to-.” Before she was able to finish her last
phrase, the phone was ringing on the wall, “Answer the phone, since it’s
probably a ten car pile up on the freeway and-.” She slumped down and she
turned towards the phone, “I’m never gonna get out of here today… Excuse me.”
She walked over to the phone
and lifted the receiver to her ear, leaving Sara to hide the pain in her eyes
and give her a chance to recover. “Autopsy… Oh, thank the lord! I thought for
sure you were Dispatch telling me I had twenty bodies on the way… Just another
day in hell down here… No, I didn’t miss the irony in that statement…” A smile
spread across her face, “Yeah?... Well, I remembered how much you liked those
sandwiches… And you drank the O.J. too?... Good, because I know you haven’t
been eating right…” She giggled at whatever the caller was saying, “Yeah… Hey,
I really wanted to thank you for last night… That was exactly what I needed…”
She laughed outright, “Hey, you know what they say? It’s a stress reliever…”
She was twirling the cord around her fingers absently as she talked, “Oh don’t
worry about it… Well, if you’re still here when I get done… Yeah, and I’ll even
let you make me breakfast this time…”
That was all Sara could handle.
She knew exactly who was on
the other end of that phone call and she just could not deal with listening to
the woman’s mewling any longer. She had to get out of there. She just dropped
the report and bolted for the door while Stephanie had her back to her.
She was moving so fast, she
did not even see Nick exiting the stairwell when she ran headlong into him,
“Hey there! Slow down, Sara… Where’s the fire?” She threw up her hands and
could not say a word, so she just shook her head and continued carrying out her
escape.
Nick looked after her until
she disappeared with an utterly confused look on his face, which he continued
to have as he ambled into the autopsy room. When he heard a woman’s voice
talking, he looked around to find Dr. MacInnerney talking on the telephone to
someone. At least she seemed to be okay, from what Nick could discern from her
tone and body language. He decided that maybe Sara had just come across
something that turned her stomach in the room. She did have some issues with
stomach contents since she had become a vegetarian. And he had to admit to
himself that he was never much for the stuff either, so he could not blame her
for wanting to get out quickly.
The doctor hung up the
receiver and turned around talking, “Okay, attitude has been sufficiently
adjust-.” She looked perplexed when she found Nick standing there, but he just
smiled, “Either I was worse off than I thought, or someone is missing?”
Nick laughed, “Ah… Yeah, I
saw Sara boltin’ outta here when I showed up: probably just got somethin’ foul
in her nostrils.” Nick obviously did not know what was going on and Stephanie
knew that she was going to have to fix the situation before it got out of hand.
“Well, I guess we’ll just add
that to the laundry list of other crap that’s gone wrong this week.” She blew
out a breath and headed off to the body sitting on the exam table, “Sorry, if I
don’t stop, but I have three bodies in queue and David is picking up a fourth
right now. So, what can I help you with?” She reached the body and removed the
drape to begin her examination.
“Oh yeah, no sweat… I was
lookin’ for the prelim on the Francosi case?” He stepped in her direction, but
was stopped by her arm gesturing at the table behind him.
“Over there, um, ah, that
last person was asking about it… What was her name?” She squinted her eyes and
put her forearm to her brow in her attempt to bring the name out, “Damn… I
can’t very well apologize to someone if I can’t remember her blasted name!”
Nick looked from her to the
report and back again, “Oh, you mean Sara?”
“SARA! That’s right…” She
slapped her forehead, “Why are first names such a pain to remember?” She
started putting her gloves on as she continued, “Yeah, Sara was in here asking
about that case. All of my notes are in the prelim, as is the COD, the only
thing missing is the tox report.”
Nick started flipping through
it, “So, what’s the tox say?”
She shrugged off the
question, “I have no idea; it hasn’t come back yet.”
Nick looked up from the
report, because he could not believe what he had just heard, “Wait… How do you
know cause of death without the tox?”
She let out an exasperated
sigh, “One more time with feeling, Steph… Physiology is NOT just found in a tox
screen… She presented with enough anatomical symptoms to confirm a definitive
diagnosis.”
The doctor was obviously
frustrated with his questions, but he got the distinct impression that it had
nothing to do with him, specifically. However, her statement was not making
sense to Nick, and so he scanned the report for the cause of death, but when he
found it, he just had to ask another question and he struggled with the
pronunciation, “What the heck is ‘hereditary hay-mo-chroma-tosis?’”
“Hee-mo.” She corrected the
pronunciation, “Sorry, but I always use the proper spelling instead of the
Americanized one. Hereditary Haemochromatosis is where iron is not properly
metabolized in the body and contributes to an early and painful death when
untreated.” She rattled off the disease name and layman’s description to Nick,
while she began the internal exam of the body on the table in front of her.
“Hereditary? That would mean
this girl was born with this thing… How could she go untreated like that?” Nick
was scratching his head.
“Well, actually, it’s rarely
diagnosed before the age of thirty, and for women, typically only when they
become post-menopausal. Iron’s not shed from the body the way most minerals
are. It’s used for blood cell production, so, unless you bleed, you don’t lose
any iron. People with iron deficiencies are often suffering from other issues
which contribute to the depletion of iron from the blood stream; most commonly
cancer, since it feeds on the iron in the blood.” She had made her “Y” incision
as she explained the disease’s pathology.
“Okay, I get that, but how do
you make that call without a tox report?” Nick saw her face contort with her
frustration again, and figured that she had probably already gotten into it
with Sara, and that was what the problem had been, so he headed it off at the
pass, “Sorry for all the questions, I’ve just never come across this one and we
were totally sure it was an OD or poisoning. If I can understand your diagnosis, then I can be ready if I ever see it again.” He walked a
little closer to her while he explained himself, in order to save her from
having to holler across the room. “It’s kind of a thing around here… Learnin’
from your mistakes and all.” When she looked up from the body and saw his face,
he was flashing a crooked smile.
“I get it… And I’m sorry if
I’m being a little short right now… It’s just been a tough week all the way
around.” She nodded her head and smiled back.
“Yeah, and having that sexist
jackass start off your week with that scene probably didn’t help, huh?” That
time she laughed.
“They’ve been riding you
pretty hard on that one, huh?” She said with her head tilted down.
“Nah… No more than I deserved.”
She stopped what she was
doing with the body before her and motioned for Nick to follow her over to the
drawers. “Okay, Hereditary Haemochromatosis (or HH) is something that builds up
over years and years and is most prevalent in men over the age of thirty and
post-menopausal women of Northern European descent. And it’s actually pretty
common; one and a half to three people in every thousand persons (I looked it
up). It’s figured that ten percent of the American population contains the
genetic mutation that causes it. Now, if you notice in the report, the liver
and the spleen were both greatly enlarged, with the spleen sitting at nearly
two kilograms (with a normal spleen coming in at around a hundred and fifty
grams for someone of her build): very common in HH patients, since the excess
iron is deposited in those tissues.” Nick nodded his head as she retrieved the
body from the drawer and pulled the sheet back. “Now, if you’ll notice the
areas of the face and the flexural folds; there is an almost metallic gray
coloration in some places and her face is appearing almost like it was
bronzed.”
“Yeah, we noticed the face,
but Sara thought it might have been some of that fake bake.” Nick was really
getting in to the information now.
“That would be a negative.
Regardless of what they tell you, it does leave a residue and the swab came
back negative for any foreign substances outside of Vaseline Intensive Care
Therapy Lotion, or a generic thereof…” When his face told her he did not
understand how she knew that detail, she explained, “Sorry, it is THE most
common lotion used by bodies coming through autopsy, so I have the formula
memorized.” They both chuckled a little, “Anyway, the bronzing or the gray
pallor are signs of the liver being effected by the protein deposits. Okay,
next, you’ll notice the cutaneous atrophy on her lower legs. That happens in
more than a third of HH patients. Also, check out her fingernails.” She held up
the young woman’s hand to give Nick a better view from beside her.
Nick shook his head and
pointed down at the white lines in the fingernails, “Yeah, see those lines are
what made us think maybe it was a unusual OD, or something that acted similar
to arsenic.”
“Well, you were sort of
right, it was just an OD of naturally occurring iron in the bloodstream… But,
if you’ll notice, the nails of the thumb, index and middle fingers are concave,
and almost spoon shaped, right?” She brought the hand even closer for him to
examine it.
“Yeah, but she worked for a
sheet metal company, so we didn’t even look at that.”
“Well, this is a classic
symptom of HH, and a fourth of the patients have very prominent ‘spoon nails.’
Its technical term is a pain to pronounce even for me, so when you see that ‘K’
word in the final report, just remember ‘spoon nails.’”
“Got it.” He looked at her
arms and pointed at the scaly build up of skin there, “So, I take it that ain’t
some kind of reactionary problem with her work?”
“Good call. Ichthyosiform alterations
occur in nearly half of all HH patients. It’s where there are these thickening
patches of skin that get really scaly, like a fish (which is where the term
comes from). It’s also accompanied with hair loss in more than half of the
patients; most common in the pubic region (as we see with her) and in some
cases, total body hair loss.”
Nick was still in awe at the
diagnosis, but he was beginning to understand why the doctor was so sure of her
conclusions. This woman appeared to have all the classic symptoms, except that
her age made her very atypical, based on what the doctor had told him, “Okay,
all that makes sense, but there’s no way this twenty five year old girl is
post-menopausal, Doc.”
“Nice catch… When David was
prepping the body, he noticed a scar in along the pubic cavity. Your vic had a
complete hysterectomy; probably within the last year.” She pulled back the
sheet some more to show him the very thin scar. “And whoever did it was good. I
mean, without her hyperpigmentation, it would have been hard not to see that
scar.”
Nick was confused now, “Okay,
but why does that make the difference?”
“Cessation of menstruation.”
That did not clear up his
confusion, “And?”
She laughed that time, “Silly
boy… The only way to purge the body of the excess iron is to BLEED. The most
common treatment for HH is phlebotomy, which is why it typically isn’t
diagnosed in women until they are finished menstruating.”
It was Nick’s turn to slap
his forehead that time, “Got it!” He flipped through the report a little more
before he thought of something else that the doctor had said, “Hey wait a sec…
You said it was most common in Northern
Europeans, right?”
“Sure did.”
“Her name is Francosi and
she’s got black hair… That would normally scream Italian to me.” He was just
playing with her, but it was something that did not fit the classic symptoms.
“Yup, and when you see the
wedding ring on her finger in the photos of the body, and notice the freckles
on her body, you’ll be leaving a bigger red mark on your forehead.” She had a
sly grin on her face, so Nick dug further into the report.
That was when he found it;
“Parents: Margaret & Jonathan O’Brien, Residence: Belfast, Ireland.”
He looked up from the report
sheepishly and just said, “Oh… Nevermind.”
Chapter 13
As he walked through the
halls of CSI headquarters, Warrick Brown was trying to work through the
evidence of his case. He had read something in the report in his hands that did
not jibe with his running theory, which meant he was back at square one again.
When he dropped the folder to his side and grabbed at his neck with the other
hand, he was startled by the loud crashing sound of metal on metal coming from
the locker room. What he found as he peeked around the corner was not an
unfamiliar sight. With her head resting against the lockers, Sara Sidle looked
to him like she was about to fall completely apart, and he knew of only one
thing that brought her to that breaking point: Grissom.
“Hey, Girl.” As soon as he
spoke those two words, she was instantly on guard and jerked her head in his
direction. The look on her face confirmed his suspicions; she really was about
to fall completely apart. When it appeared as though she was going to spook
like a trapped animal, he knew he had to get her out of there, and fast. “Grab
your stuff.” He did not ask her anything, he just commanded, and she followed.
He casually gestured for her to follow him and once again, she obeyed.
He made his way through the
halls with her right beside him, and eventually they found themselves outside
of the building and standing beside her car. “You been burning that candle
again, why don’t you get out of here.” Again, it was more of a command than a
question, and again, she just nodded her head and complied. She was too far
gone to resist Warrick’s help, and she was certain that she was about to break
into a million pieces, so it also came at just the right time. If she had been
in her right mind at that moment, she would have recognized that theirs was an
extremely unconventional friendship, which had started with her investigation
of the Holly Gribbs’ murder, but it turned into probably the best relationship
she ever had. And if Warrick had thought about it, he would have said the exact
same thing. Instead, she got in her car and left the parking lot, with Warrick
blocking the sun from his eyes as he waved goodbye to her.
Once he was sure she was not
turning around and coming back, he headed back into the building shaking his
head. His and Sara’s friendship was not the kind of thing where they talked
about everything, but it was more about silent unanimity. They were empathetic
of one another’s plights and most of their communication was left unspoken.
Sure, they joked with each other on a daily basis, but that was just their
front, and the real secret to their friendship was the quiet understanding that
passed between them in subtle ways. It was comfortable for both of them, and it
seemed to work as well.
As he dropped down into the
chair in the break room and slapped the report onto the tabletop, he realized
how hard this week had been on him, too. They had all been pulling extra hours,
simply from the volume of cases coming through their doors. Just as he was
closing his eyes and leaning back in the seat to stretch his back and try to
clear his head a moment, his ears told him that someone had walked into the
room. He looked in the direction of the door and found Grissom peering in; he
was obviously looking for someone. “What’s up, Doc?”
Grissom seemed shocked from
his task and it took him a moment to be able to respond, “Huh? Oh, um, I was
looking for Sara…” He looked down at the file in his hand and then around the
room again, “I’m trying to decipher her notes in the jumper case from
yesterday.”
Warrick now had to figure out
how he was going to explain the fact that he had sent her home. And as he was
grasping for ideas, Catherine nudged her way past Grissom and headed straight
for the coffee maker. “Yeah, um, she was havin’ trouble keeping her eyes open,”
Warrick went out on a limb now, “And Cath sent her home.”
When Grissom turned to
address a shocked Catherine, Warrick did his best to motion for her to cover
for him, and to her credit, Catherine handled it like a pro. “Yeah, well, the
girl’s been working doubles all week. She needed to get out of here before she
maxed out on overtime in the first week.”
Grissom looked confused and
mildly irritated at Catherine’s assumption of his role as supervisor, “What are
you talking about? I know we’ve been busy, but no one else has done doubles
this week.”
Now it was time for Catherine
to be irritated, “Gil, you really need to look at that schedule in your email
every week…” When she saw that her comment was not registering, “Sara has been
in court all week AND pulling her
regular shift because she didn’t want to leave YOU short-handed.” She turned back to the coffee pot and finished
pouring it into her mug before moving past a dumbstruck Grissom to take a seat
at the table. “You really need to pay more attention to what’s going on around
here, Grissom… Especially with your own people.”
After a few more moments of
shocked silence, Grissom turned around and walked back out of the room. And
once Catherine was sure he was gone, she kicked Warrick under the table, “Don’t
you EVER do that to me again.”
Warrick was grabbing at his
shin in pain, but he had to chuckle at the situation, “Sorry, Cath, but I
needed some excuse for gettin’ her outta here… I don’t know what happened, but
she was this close to losin’ it.”
Catherine sat back in her
chair and blew across the top of her mug, “Well, we both know there’s only one
thing that gets under Sara’s skin like that.” They just shook their heads and
looked out the doorway at the ghost of a man that had only just left the room.
Catherine sipped at her
coffee a moment, and Warrick took that as a sign to get back to his report. But
he was pulled right back out of it by her next outburst, “Hey!” She put her cup
back down on the table and leaned forward in a conspiratorial manner, “You can
fix a car, right?”
He screwed up his mouth up
into one of those sideways smiles, “I guess… Would depend on the trouble and
what kind of car. You havin’ trouble?”
Catherine shook her head,
“Oh, no, not me… The new coroner has an old car.”
He interrupted, “Oh yeah, one
of them Things, right?”
“Yeah, you’ve seen it?” He
just nodded with a smirk on his face. “Well, I guess the ugly beast was totally
dead when she tried to take it to work today… And as you well know, she’s been
having one seriously bad week.” Catherine added her own bit of attitude to the
statement.
“Oh yeah… Nothin’ like
starting a new job and havin’ it be THE
single busiest week ever. How many bodies has the morgue posted this week,
anyway?” Warrick knew it had been very busy, but he also knew that Catherine
would have the body count.
She looked up, as though she
were reading the figures in the air, “Ah, well when we started shift, it was up
to thirty two bodies… And Steph had posted twenty two of them… But that was
before shift started, so I think we’re up to like fourty for the week.”
Catherine took another sip from her mug before looking over at Warrick’s
shocked expression.
He shook his head, hoping the
action would give him some clarity on those figures, “Are you serious?” His
expression showed the severity of those numbers, “Man, that girl has some
skills.”
“Tell me about it.” Catherine
leaned forward again to ask him her favor, “So, think you could swing by her
place after shift to take a look at her car?” Warrick sat back in his chair and
thought about the request a moment, and Catherine decided to add one more
thing, “”I’d hate to leave that poor kid at the mercy of a Vegas import shop, ya
know?”
That made sense to Warrick
and he thought it would also be a fine gesture for the young doctor to know
just how much everyone in the lab appreciated her presence on the night shift.
The fact was, he had been really worried about the new coroner coming on board
and fitting in with this unconventional team of investigators and technicians.
His fears were quickly erased by her fast work and insightful conclusions. She
had caught something on each of his cases in the morgue that week that he had
missed and he had been seriously impressed by her thoroughness and sense of
humility. But it was when he witnessed her put Hodges in his place the day
before yesterday, that he knew she was a perfect fit for this crazy place. As
he considered everything that had happened in their lives lately, he realized
that it really was important to work with good people, and he was going to do
his part to make sure they felt welcome, “Alright… I’ll swing by there and see
what’s up.” Catherine gave him that electric smile of hers, and Warrick played
her with that humble kid from the streets grin, “At least give her something to
take to the shop.”
Catherine sat back in the
chair, content in the notion that she had done her good deeds for the day.
Warrick took one look at her expression, and simply could not resist, “You
don’t gotta look so much like your nickname, Miss Thing.” They both laughed at
the thought, but it was true; sometimes Catherine really did look like a cat
when she was pleased with herself.
She just shrugged her
shoulders and said, “Hey, it’s hard to hide a purr.”
Chapter 14
It was just after ten o’clock
in the morning when Stephanie submitted her last final report for the shift.
“Thank God!” She had said as she was shutting down her computer.
David, upon hearing her
exclamation, poked his head inside her office door, “Finished?”
She looked up to find David
standing in her doorway with his jacket and case, “Oh yeah… And only a few
hours overdue.”
David chuckled, “Great first
week, huh?” She huffed her answer, “Hey, I do have some good news…” She perked
up a little at his tone, “With that last case, you set the county record for
most posts by a single person in a week.”
Stephanie gave him a blank look
before answering, “You have got to be kidding me?!”
“Nope, Dr. Robbins was just
commenting about it to the County Coroner. Busiest week ever in our shop, and
you handled twenty eight out of fourty one cases.” David actually looked proud
of those numbers, and Stephanie realized that he probably was proud, since he
had assisted on at least twenty of those autopsies. About midway through the
week, he had commented to her that it was unusual for him to get to assist
quite that much, and she understood that he was also proud that she had placed
so much trust in his abilities. The fact of it was, she had just assumed that
things worked the same way here as they would in Los Angeles, where the
assistants were on the same level as O.R. nurses and that was what they did.
The only thing she thought that was different here, was that they did not have
a budget for the pickup men they had in L.A. County. After hearing about that
from David, she had questioned Dr. Robbins about letting him assist so much,
but Al thought it was a great idea and that it would also be good for David to
get that kind of experience. After all, David was still in school and was
looking to become a full-blown medical examiner, he had not decided about the
medical school angle just yet. Stephanie had decided that it was going to be
her job to convince him that it was the way to go.
“So, you mean it’s not like
that around here all the time?” David shook his head and laughed, “Well, that’s
at least something to look forward to… A quiet week.”
“You’re going to regret
saying that.” David was obviously feeling comfortable with Stephanie after
their intense week, because at the start of their week he still had the
appearance of a timid rabbit around her. Stephanie decided that if this was a
result of their surviving a week like that, then maybe all the hell was worth
it.
“You’re probably right…” She
sat back in her chair contemplating something, ‘I shouldn’t have shut that down
so soon… You don’t happen to know a good cab company?”
David looked confused, but
tried to come up with an answer, “Well, Midtown is good, but why do you need a
cab?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you…
The Thing became the Undead this morning.” She looked down at her watch, “And
my fiancé has been in bed for about two hours, and my last chance for a ride
left here about an hour ago.” She was resigned to her plight, and she had
calmed down quite a bit from her earlier fireworks shows. She guessed that
exhaustion did have some perks.
David looked around and at
his own watch, “Well, I have some time before I pick up Sandy for lunch over at
UNLV, so I could drop you off… If you don’t mind squeezing into a Honda, that
is.”
She leaned forward, “Are you
sure?”
David just shrugged, “Yeah, I
don’t see why not… Didn’t you say your place is close to Desert Palms?”
She stood up and grabbed her
bag, “Yeah, just a few blocks from the ER entrance.”
“Then let’s go, I always take
the back way over there anyway, to avoid the traffic, and it takes me right
past the hospital.” David smiled as she walked towards him.
“David, you have just made my
day… It is a new day, isn’t it?” He nodded and they both laughed as they walked
out of the morgue.
David had been right,
Stephanie had fun squeezing into the Honda, but once inside the car she was
fine, and they enjoyed the short ride over to her neighborhood. She had learned
about David’s interest in the SETI project, and she had to admit, even though
the topic was foreign to her, his enthusiasm was refreshing. She also had a
chance to inject the seeds of encouragement for him to attend medical school
and become a real pathologist. She truly believed he had what it took and
medical school would be the ideal environment for his confidence and his skills
to build.
When they pulled up in front
of her home, she thanked him again, “David, you’ve been a huge help, and I hope
your fiancé knows what a lucky girl she is.” He blushed at her compliment, “You
have a great weekend, and I’ll be back in the trenches Sunday night.”
“Thanks, Dr, MacInnerney… And
you have a good weekend, too.” She waved him off as he pulled away from the
front of the townhouse. Once he was down the block, she could hear the sound of
her baby’s engine revving up coming from the other side of the house, and she
wondered how in the world Thomas had pulled that off.
She quickly unlocked the
front door, went inside and dropped her things in the chair, making her way to
the garage at the back of the house. She threw open the door and called out to
him, as he was hidden behind the hood of the engine compartment, “Hey! Since
when did you learn how to fix a c-.” She was stopped cold when the head that
popped up over the top of the hood was not that of her fiancé. Instead, she
found the smiling face of Warrick Brown. “Where in the hell did you come from?”
Suddenly, Thomas was walking
up behind her with a couple of beers in his hands, “Is that anyway to greet the
man who just resurrected that beast from the dead, sweetheart?” She turned to
find the smiling face of her fiancé as he passed her to hand Warrick one of the
beers in his hands as the other man made his way around the car. “Here ya go,
man…” He turned back to Stephanie, “Take this one, I’ll grab another… I hear
you need it more than me.” She felt the warmth of his lips on her cheek as he
passed by her going back into the house.
Warrick took a drag off of
the bottle and wiped the sweat off of his forehead with a rag before speaking,
“Hey, girl… Catherine told me you were havin’ some car trouble. Figured I’d
swing by and see if I could at least diagnose the problem…. Hope you don’t
mind.” While he waited for her to respond, he took another pull from the
bottle.
She finally got over the
shock of finding a CSI in her garage and spoke, “Talk about having the worst
and the best week of my life.” She shook her head, and Warrick laughed.
“Yeah, that seems to be a
problem with our group. Must mean you belong.” They both laughed that time and
that was when the tall, brown-haired doctor returned with his own beer.
“What’s the joke?” He asked
just before he took his own drink and put an arm around Stephanie’s waist.
“Other than my week, and my
car?” She leaned against him when she responded and when he pulled her a little
closer, she put her head on his shoulder.
“That’s okay, babe… Weeks get
better, and Warrick here has that thing sounding better than I’ve ever heard it
sound in the seven years I’ve known you.” Thomas tipped his beer in Warrick’s
direction.
She stood straighter at his
mention of the car, “Yeah, I heard it when David dropped me off out front… What
in the world did you do to my baby?”
Warrick shied away from her
compliment and brushed it off with his hand, “Not much at all… Your carburetor
was just clogged and I tweaked it a little, too. Other than that, I was
actually surprised it wasn’t something big. You kept that thing running top,
girl. Where’d you learn that stuff?” Warrick was duly impressed with the
condition of the over thirty year old car.
She just shrugged it off,
“Mom came of age before Women’s Lib, but she liked to hold her own, so she took
some auto maintenance classes. She passed it on to me.” She looked at Thomas
before continuing, “And it’s a good thing, because this one barely knows how to
pump gas, let alone change a tire.”
“Hey now… I am a surgeon, you
know.” The two had a private communication between them with their eyes, but
they all laughed at her taunting. “Well, now that you’re here to entertain our
automotive saviour, I’m gonna head off to bed...” He kissed her quickly on the
lips and turned to go back into the house, “I have to make rounds at five
o’clock, and check in on a patient who had bypass this morning, but after that,
I’m yours.”
She watched him go back into
the house and called after him, “Just as long as you don’t wake me up when you
leave… Again.” They could faintly hear his acknowledgement of her jibe, but
just barely. She turned back to Warrick, who was shutting off the car and
closing the engine compartment. “Hey, Warrick… Thanks, man… This really means a
lot to me; you have no idea.”
“Don’t sweat it… I figured it
was the least I could do.” He was wiping his hands with the rag with no luck in
getting all the grease and grime off.
Noticing what he was doing,
she slapped her forehead, “Where are my manners?! Why don’t you come inside to
get cleaned up while I fix you something to eat?” She walked back into the
house and gestured for him to follow.
“Hey, don’t go to any trouble
or nothin’.” He looked from side to side once he stepped inside the house.
“No trouble at all… I’m
keeping you from your wife, and you just fixed my baby” She pointed over to his
left, “Bathroom is there on your left. Hand cleaner, towels and such are under
the sink.” Once she recognized that he saw which way to go, she turned and went
into the kitchen, calling behind her, “I’ll have something ready for us by the
time you’re done in there.”
She took out everything she
needed to make them a couple of sandwiches and set to work. By the time she
heard the bathroom door open, she was cutting the sandwiches in half and
putting them on plates. Warrick walked in just as she was returning the last of
the fixings to the refrigerator, “Hey, you made quick work of that.”
He smirked a little, and
looked at his hands, “Well, I make my living figuring out the dirty details of
people’s lives, so you learn a few things about getting the grime off at the
end of the day.”
She sighed at his remark and
looked inward for a moment, “Yep, everyday, you meet people on their worst
day.” She looked back at him and into his eyes, “Kind of helps you keep things
in perspective, huh?”
Warrick thought about it a
moment, and it was in that moment that he realized this was a woman who looked
at life in a way that few ever understood. The second thought he had was; she
reminded him of what Grissom must have been like before whatever made him so
closed off had happened. She was smart; genius even. He knew she was young, and
had finished school early, but she was not just book smart, she had some wisdom
too.
Before he had more time to
think about it, Stephanie was inviting him to sit down and eat, “Come on, it’s
more comfortable in the other room…” She looked back at the rustic table set up
in the kitchen, “That’s the first thing I need to get rid of around here. That
man has no taste in tables or chairs.” She ushered him into the living room and
set their food down on the coffee table, “Thankfully, he at least knows living
room furniture.”
Warrick had to stifle a
laugh, “Yeah, well, guys only worry about the important stuff.”
“Men…” She noticed that his
beer was empty and took the bottle from him before she asked, “So, you want
another beer or something else?”
Warrick looked at his watch
and then at her as he contemplated sitting down on the couch, “Ah, what’cha got?”
“Iced Tea, Lemonade, Apple
Juice, Milk and I think I have ginger ale, too.” She called out from the
kitchen behind her.
“Iced Tea would be great,” he
called back. He was just about to sit down when something on the opposite wall
caught his eye, so he crossed over to get a better look. There were a bunch of
pictures on the wall, and he could trace the last several years of their lives
in those pictures, but there was one picture in particular that stood out. She
was smiling broadly, wearing a cap and gown with her arms around two men. One
of the men was the one he had just met this morning (also in cap and gown), but
it was the other one that had him reaching a hand up to his face in shock.
Standing there, with an uncommon smile on his beardless face was Grissom. That
was how Stephanie found him when she walked back into the living room and had
to scan the room to find him.
“Oh crap!” Warrick turned to
find her standing there in the entryway with her head hung down, “I completely
forgot about the pictures.” She walked over to the couch to set the drinks down
and then turned to face the music.
Warrick just shook his head
in disbelief, but at the same, it just made sense, “I shoulda guessed that.” He
met her eyes and they were filled with shock from his statement, “I mean, you
two don’t look nothin’ alike and all, but you got the same brain. I guess I
just never pictured him for a Daddy.”
She could not contain the
laughter, and it burst from her like an explosion. Warrick was totally confused
by her outburst, but he waited until she said something before he said another
word. After a few moments, she appeared to have caught her breath and put a
hand on his shoulder, “Gil is NOT my
Daddy! Oh man, that really is funny.” She pointed to another picture of herself
and an older couple, “THOSE are my
parents. Gil was a co-worker and friend of my Pop’s, and he just became a part
of our family. Heck, he’s been around so long, I’m not sure I have any memories
without Uncle Gil in them.” She walked over to the bookcase on the next wall
and grabbed another photograph, “This is one of my favorite pictures.” She
handed him a picture of a fresh faced Grissom in a black suit and a much older
man in a police uniform. “They had just gotten back from a patrolman’s funeral
and I was testing the camera Gil had given me for my fifth birthday. Notice how
the angle is a little off?” He did notice that he felt almost like he was
looking up at them from the photograph. “Uncle Gil made me re-take it from a
better perspective, because he said their height would be distorted and crime
scene photos should always have proper proportions.” She held the picture
again, “But that was how I saw them, and it was the picture I kept all these
years. When my Pop passed away a while back, I gave Uncle Gil a copy of both
pictures in a frame; one to see how they really were, and one to see how I
always viewed them… They have always been bigger than life to me.” She
carefully returned the prized photograph to the bookcase.
Warrick was still in a bit of
shock, but now his curiosity was taking over, “So, why’re you two keeping your
relationship on the down-low?”
She tilted her head to the
side and gestured for him to have a seat on the couch, once he did she passed
his glass of tea over and took a sip from hers, “Well, I got the job without
him knowing, and I wanted to prove myself without anyone else knowing.” She
took another sip from her glass, “See, people treat you differently if they
find out you have connections. And it’s even worse when you work in the same
field as your connections.”
Warrick looked out across the
room, trying to process all the information, “So, I can see how you got the job
solo: your work speaks for that one. But I don’t get why you’d hide bein’
related to Gris?”
She let out a breath quickly,
“Well, it’s one of those double-edged swords, being his protégé opens some doors and slams other ones shut. Some people are
going to accept me, simply because I was his ‘prize pupil.’ And other people,
they’re either going to expect me to be him, or they are going to want to put
me down because of him.” She looked him in the eye for her final statement on
the matter, “Sucks either way, and I prefer to make my mark BEFORE anyone finds out the truth. Then,
I get what you just did; ‘shoulda guessed that.’”
He had to admit, he would
have been biased if he had known she was related to Grissom, and figured that
people would base that bias depending on their general feelings towards the
man. Warrick tried to imagine how he would have felt if everywhere he went in
his profession, there was, not one, but two people for him to live up to or to
live down for the rest of his life, and what he could imagine was not a pretty
thought. “I think I can picture that. But you know it ain’t gonna last forever,
right?”
“Oh yeah, I already blew it
with Catherine the first day.”
Warrick had to laugh at that
one. Leave it to Cath to sniff out the
rat. “That figures.”
She was shaking her head, “I should’ve
been more prepared for her, I mean, she is his best friend and all.” Warrick
gave her a puzzled look, “Oh, Uncle Gil told my Pop and me all about Catherine
when he first started working with her. Told us she was super sharp and came
from a whole different perspective. Said she was teaching him more about the
human element of things.” She chuckled to herself a bit, “Pop tried to tell us
that he thought maybe Gil had finally found someone to make him happy, but Mom
and I both looked at each other and went; ‘Nah!’” Warrick had to laugh about
that one, too. He had always wondered if Catherine and Grissom ever had a
thing, but he had never gotten up the nerve to ask either of them about it.
“Mom and I both knew that the only way Uncle Gil would EVER settle into a relationship, was if he could find his
intellectual and social equal, and she would also have to get his twisted sense
of humor, and not have a problem with bugs. And Pop would always add, ‘She’d
have to work with him, too… If she ever expected to see him, that is.’”
Warrick pinched his smile and
looked over to the side to think about that one before he responded, “Yeah,
that sounds about right.”
Chapter 15
Hodges was convinced his ship
had finally come in when he looked up to find the new and incredibly hot
medical examiner in the hallway outside his office. She appeared to be looking
for something; or someone. He caught a quick glance in the mirror he kept
hidden in his workstation to make sure he was just as impressive as he believed
he was, smoothed out his eyebrows and snapped his jaw shut with a smile before
reaching out to the beauty in the hall.
He leaned out of the Trace
Room and called to her, “Help you find something, beautiful?”
Stephanie was stopped in her
tracks by the offhand and unwarranted comment, “Excuse me?”
Hodges rested against the
doorjamb and attempted to strike a Cary Grant pose, “You looked lost… Is there
something I can do for you?”
Before she could lay into
him, again, she found that CSI Sanders was there with something to say,
“Hodges, are you smoking something again? If Dr. MacInnerney needed anything,
you aren’t the man handle it.” He turned away from Hodges and flashed a boyish
wink at Stephanie, “Besides, the Doc was looking for me, since I was the one
who paged her.” He motioned for her to follow him. “C’mon, Doc… We got some
questions on that Ponzi case.”
Stephanie quickly searched her databank brain for the case Sanders had
mentioned, but she was drawing a blank when it suddenly dawned on her what he
was talking about.
“You paged me about Ponzi? I thought we had the full pyramid of data on that one already?”
She wanted to make sure he knew that she was in on the scam.
As he led her away from
Hodges’ leering eyes, he added, “Yeah, but we just need to make a little more sense from the data.” Once they were
sufficiently out of earshot, he just could not resist, “Nice catch, Doc… I
thought Grissom was the only one who caught those obscure historical
references.”
She laughed at the humor of
his comment; especially since it was Gil who had first told her the story
behind the Ponzi Scheme of the 1920’s when she had questioned him about the
case her father was working on regarding a pyramid scheme. She wanted to know
what a pyramid scheme was, and true to form, Gil was there with the full
historical record. “Well, let’s just say I am an avid reader and student of the
game.”
Sanders just chuckled, “So,
now that Hodges the Horrible is out of the way, can I help you find something?”
“Actually, yeah, I was
looking for Gil and he wasn’t in his office.” Stephanie was actively looking
around the lab as she spoke.
Greg was a little surprised
to hear her use Grissom’s first name, since he had only ever heard Catherine
and Brass do that, and they had both known him for years. He decided that there
was a mystery there for him to solve, but for now, he would play along, “Oh,
um… He was here a little while ago, but I was in electronics with Archie and-.”
“Probably wasting the
taxpayer’s money… Where is your report, Greg?” Grissom had appeared behind them
as they were walking.
“My report is ah… Well,
it’s….” Greg floundered as he struggled to provide a good reason for his lack
of completion.
“On my desk before another
hour passes, right?” Grissom shot him a raised eyebrow and Greg simply nodded
and took off in the opposite direction.
“Such a taskmaster, you are.”
She winked at him and waited for him to stand at her side.
He gave her his disapproving
glare before he spoke, “You were looking for me?”
“Oh yeah… I have something
for you, and thought you’d want to see it ASAP.” She handed him a folder as
they walked towards his office.
He placed the folder on top
of the clipboard he was carrying, opened it up, and they continued on their
path to the office. They were just a few steps away from the door when he
stopped flat, “So this means that-.” He looked up at Stephanie.
“You got it… It couldn’t be
any clearer than if it had been tattooed
on his forehead.” She gave him an impish look with her comment.
He raised his eyebrow at her
off-hand comment regarding the stabbing victim case they had been processing.
They had not had much luck in determining what the weapon had been, but they
had both found an unusual discoloration at the site of the wound and were
hopeful it would lead them in the right direction. As he glanced at the report
once more, he saw that the discoloration was actually tattooing ink and the
photos of the tattooing equipment she had found matched the wound pattern
perfectly. He was impressed that she had followed her own instincts and traced
down the weapon on her own. He guessed that she was a lot more like her father
than he had counted on, and having her in the morgue was going to be an obvious
advantage for all of his team members.
As they walked into his
office he simply could not resist making his own comment, “That would make this
a whole new form of lethal injection.”
She casually put her hand on
his forearm as she laughed. “Nice… Well, I just wanted to get you the results
as soon as I could. I heard you were under the gun from the Sheriff.”
He took a seat behind his
desk while she looked around at the various items lining the shelves in his
office. “That is not news.” Stephanie
chuckled at his remark.
“Well, that figures. You
spend all your time on the case instead of worrying about your professional
career.” She moved across the room and sat down on the edge of his desk while
he continued to read the full report, “Pop always said you were going to be the
most brilliant forensic mind ever to be banished to academia for being a
political kindergartner.” Her last comment finally pulled him out of the
report.
He looked up at her from over
his glasses. “Your father was a wise man,” he shrugged. He sat back in his
chair and took his glasses off. “However, I would rather get things right and
look bad, than look good and get the details wrong.”
She laughed at that one,
“Gil, do you honestly believe you can’t expose the truth and improve your
professional standing at the same time? They are not mutually exclusive
activities.” He shrugged off her question, but she was not letting him slide
this time, “You really are stuck in your own head… You need a girlfriend.”
That time he could not
contain the laugh that escaped his lips, “That
is your mother talking.”
Stephanie shook her head as
she laughed at his joke, “Not this time, Gil… I’ve been here for two weeks now
and I have literally witnessed you NOT being on the job for only three hours in
that time. And I had to drag you kicking and screaming to go to dinner with me
and Thomas to give you that time.” She gave him a more serious look, “You need
to spend a little bit more time in the world, instead of reading about it.”
He smirked at her comment,
but he was unable to rebuke her; she was right. Gil Grissom had spent most of
his life reading about the great things other people had done, reading about
the great things they had experienced, and reading the great things they had
written in the name of passions he had never experienced himself. And here
before him was this amazing creature; fearless in every way, showing him just
what life could be like, if only he was willing to risk it all. “Yes, well, we
all have our eccentricities. And right now, I am trying to figure out why you
came up here to find me. I thought we weren’t letting anyone know about us.” He
raised his eyebrow with his questioning statement.
“Yeah, well, it seems that
most people have already figured it out.” She shrugged off his questioning
look. “Last straw for me was when Captain Brass came to see me this morning. I
guess he put two and two together after he talked with a mutual friend in L.A.”
Gil raised an eyebrow. “Old buddy of his in New Jersey is a captain in L.A.
now, and we served on a leadership committee together. I guess he had talked to
Annie and had gotten the full scoop. So, with so many people knowing about us,
I just couldn’t see keeping up the distancing crap.” He shook his head, and it
did seem logical.
There was one thought that
crossed his mind as he resigned himself to people knowing more about his
personal life. “Who else knows?”
The look on his face was
priceless, and Stephanie could not help but laugh at the humor of the
situation. It would appear that his friends had even kept their own knowledge
of their relationship a secret from him. “The usual suspects, of course…” She
held up her hand and raised her thumb, “Brass obviously,” the index finger was
next, “Warrick,” middle finger came next, “Catherine,” the ring finger
followed, “David,” the pinky wiggled up, “Al,” the pinky folded in half,
“Sofia,” the ring finger folded next, “Vartann,” next came the folding of the
middle and index fingers, “and Wendi and most likely Greg.” As Grissom followed the count in his head, he
realized that Stephanie had counted using the standard ASL numerals and mused
to himself, When did she learn ASL?
“Wendi and Greg?”
“Yeah, they both went to
Stanford… Mom was Wendi’s advisor, and
I’ve known her for years. I figure it’s only a matter of time before she and
Greg shared info, since she knew he went there, too.” She just laughed at his
expression of shock.
“Okay, I get most of those.”
He shook off the confusion, but had one more question. “But how did Sofia and
Vartann figure it out?”
She shrugged her shoulders,
“That would be Thomas… He drove my car to work last weekend and I guess they
were questioning him in the parking lot about a patient, recognized the car and
got him talking… Sofia put the rest of it together from there.” She was
absently pulling a paper clip apart as she spoke, “She’s a really bright lady,
Gil… Someone you might consider?” She was trying to be coy, but the smirk on
Grissom’s face was her only response. She feigned innocence and made one final
remark as she handed him the paper clip which was now twisted into the crude
form of a butterfly, “Hey, can’t blame a girl for trying to figure out what you
want, right?”
They were both laughing at
the joke and completely missed the failed entrance of another woman to his
office. Upon hearing the private admission to Grissom, she had immediately
plastered herself to the opposite wall, and well out of sight. Once she had
caught her breath, she was moving fast down the hall, and struggled to hold
back the tears as she made her escape.
Chapter 16
There was no escaping it
tonight: Sara Sidle was going to have to go down to autopsy. She had managed to
avoid the place all week, and thankfully, everyone had assumed she was still
cooling down from her run in with the new coroner the week before. If they only knew, she thought to
herself. However, even that excuse was getting a little old; especially when
the coroner had sent her an apology in the form of an enormous arrangement of
flowers. Sara knew that she would have to deal with the woman soon enough, but
she had been hoping to get a better handle on her emotions before that
happened.
Things had been going so much
better with Grissom, so when Sara learned of the longstanding relationship between
him and the new ME, she was in complete shock. She had to admit that Grissom
seemed very comfortable with the younger woman, and he also had been much
happier since her arrival. Sara just wished that she had been the reason for
his happiness.
As she walked down the stairs
to the morgue she mourned for the loss of the opportunity to be with Grissom,
but she also chastised herself for making wrong assumptions. She had always
assumed that one of Grissom’s biggest hang-ups about a relationship with her
had been their age difference. Having met Dr. Stephanie MacInnerney, she
realized that was not case, since Sara easily had five or more years on the
young pathologist.
No, Sara had decided that
Grissom was more shallow than she had originally thought. After all, each of
the women he had been linked to were all exceptional beauties; classically
beautiful women. First there was the anthropologist; the sultry blonde with the
gentle soul, intelligence and calm Sara wished she had. Then there was Lady
Heather; by all accounts a ravishing beauty who was able to match Grissom point
for point when it came to classical literature. And then came Sofia; the sexy,
passionate and intelligent former CSI, turned detective. Each of them had exceptional
traits, both physically and mentally. Grissom was obviously attracted to
gorgeous, intelligent women who were all larger than life, and by default Sara
assumed that his lack of interest stemmed from her just not being one of those
kinds of women.
This latest woman was no
different; Dr. MacInnerney was young for a doctor, having finished school
early. Greg had even referred to her as a genius, and after reading her reports
from the last two weeks, she had to admit that it was very possible. But it was
her beauty that struck everyone who met her. She was taller than most of the
men around the lab, so when she walked into a room or down a hall, everyone
noticed. When she stood up, it was impressive and intimidating, and she used it
to her advantage; Sara had already gotten a little taste of that during their
first meeting. And not only was she tall, there was nothing gangly or awkward
about her height. Instead, the woman was obviously very athletic: the delicate
definition of the muscles on her arms was a strong indicator of her physical
conditioning. She had heard from Warrick that the woman once played collegiate
basketball, so she was obviously in very good shape. However, it was probably
her hair that most people remembered and commented on, as it was the absolute
perfect shade of auburn. The color was deep and rich and it caught your eye
immediately as it sparkled in any setting. She kept it at a shorter length than
most people would, but the curl in her hair gave it so much body, that it did
not appear to be too short. And to match that luscious red hair, she had the
deepest green eyes Sara could ever recall seeing before. They shined like
precious gems when she spoke or smiled, and even Sara was stricken with their
unfathomable clarity. Her smile would probably be the other thing that people
were smitten with, and it was most definitely a strong asset. Sara imagined she
had undergone a lot of orthodontia to get a smile like that, but the fact was,
it was only Sara’s jealousy that told her that, and the woman probably just had
good genes for teeth. Finally, Sara thought, her skin was also striking. She
had the faintest of freckles across the bridge of her nose but the rest of her
skin resembled that of the finest porcelain dolls. To top it all off, Sara had
surmised that the woman did not wear even the smallest trace of makeup. She was
naturally beautiful in every sense of the word.
As she listed off each of the
woman’s physical attributes in her head, Sara realized that it would be
impossible to even dream of competing with someone like that for Grissom’s
affections. Because, although she was a stunning beauty, she was, more
importantly, Grissom’s equal (if not his superior) intellectually.
So, Sara Sidle had resigned
herself to finally getting over Gil Grissom. She had made that decision, and
the only thing she had left to do at that point was to follow through on her
decision. To that end, Sara figured it would be easier if she could just avoid
the two of them at all costs. She could deal with the situation a lot better if
it was not being shoved down her throat at every turn. She had asked to adjust
her schedule; using some lame reason for needing time off during the week,
which gave her two days of uninterrupted avoidance of the new couple.
Since it was Saturday, she
was safely headed off to Autopsy, sure that she would find the weekend guy
slowly processing her DB. The weekend guy was slow, and he was sloppy, but he
was not involved with Grissom, and that made him a much better choice at that
moment in time. Pushing through the doors into Autopsy, she found Ricky, the
weekend assistant, as he closed one of the drawers. “Hey Ricky.”
Ricky looked back at her with
a worried expression on his face, and motioned for her to lower her voice,
“Shhhhh…” Ricky looked back in the direction of the office.
Sara lowered her voice, but
she did not understand the point of the exercise, “I don’t think the DB’s can
hear us, man.”
Ricky laughed off her joke,
“Nah… But the M.E. can.” He pointed towards the office, “Catching a few Z’s
before the next one comes through.”
Sara scrunched up her face
into a question mark, “Since when do we give the M.E.’s nap time?”
Ricky laughed again, “When
they’ve been here for fourty nine straight hours… That woman is an animal!” He
was still whispering and had turned back to the office, to make sure he had not
woken the woman on the other side of the glass, so he did not see the terrified
expression on Sara’s face.
When he turned back to face
Sara, she had to think fast, “So, why has she been here that long?”
He just shrugged, as though
he thought everyone already knew what was going on, “Well, she was covering for
Doc Robbins anyway, since he had some conference this weekend… And they both
had been covering for Doc Polaski all week, since his wife had an emergency
delivery Monday… And last night, Travis walked out, so she got stuck in here
with a gang shootout to sort through.” He looked back again, just to make sure
his talking had not disturbed the woman. “Hell, she’s on her fifth assistant
since she clocked in Thursday night! I can’t figure out how she’s still alive.
‘Bout an hour ago the County Coroner called and said he got Desert Palms
Pathology to pick up some slack, so she’s only got the critical cases until Doc
Robbins flies back from his conference in the morning.” He explained everything
to a still dumbstruck Sara and failed to notice the stirring in the next room.
So, to say he was shocked when the raspy voice emerged behind him was an
understatement.
“And it won’t be soon
enough.” Sara and Ricky both nearly came out of their skins when Stephanie
croaked those words. The doctor rubbed at her face, as though she were trying
to restore the circulation to her face with her hand, “What can I do for you,
Ms. Sidle?” Obviously the woman had taken Sara’s avoidance this week as a sign
she was still angry with her for their altercation. She was going to have to
fix that before it became the elephant in the room no one talked about.
Before Sara could respond,
Stephanie began a yawn that had obviously come from her toes, and as the yawn
concluded she stretched her whole body upwards, and though she thought it was
impossible, Sara was sure that the doctor looked even taller in that gesture.
“Sorry about that… Kind of rude, but the only way I’m staying up right now.”
And she launched into another mega-yawn, though this one was accompanied by the
rubbing of her brow as the air escaped her mouth.
“Oh well… I didn’t mean to-…
Well, you know wa-…” Sara took a deep breath and attempted to calm her nerves.
When she found her resolve, she spoke again, “Sorry, I didn’t realize you had
gotten stuck here this weekend. I was just looking for the report on the case
I’m working…” She remembered how the doctor recalled her patients, so she
recited the information back to her in that format, “Taylor, fourty six year
old male, probable drowning?”
Stephanie nodded her head in
acknowledgement, since she was entrenched in yet another yawn. She turned back
into the office and re-emerged with a folder in her hands, “Here ya go… It’s
all there.” The doctor walked back into the office and Sara could hear the
sound of glass against porcelain as Stephanie poured herself a cup of coffee.
When she came back out drinking from the mug, Sara and Ricky both could tell
the taste was not what she was expecting.
“You okay, Doc?” Ricky asked
with some concern.
She was still visibly wincing
from the taste of the black liquid, “Did we replace the coffee with motor oil
at some point?” She reached up to her mouth and spit something out into her
hand, “And gravel?”
Ricky slammed his fist into
his hand, “Dammit! That freaking coffee maker is a total piece of shit. That’s
the second time this week it’s gone out.” He went into the office and grabbed
the coffee pot, carried it into the Autopsy Room and poured the contents out
into the waste sink. Sara could see chunks of foreign material falling out over
the rim and had to wince herself.
When she turned to avoid the
sight of the coffee pot being emptied, she saw Stephanie absently about to take
another drink from her cup, so she reached out and put her hand over the cup as
she attempted to remove it from the M.E.’s grip. “Oh man… Don’t drink that.”
She handed the cup to Ricky who crossed the room again to empty the contents of
it into the sink. Sara could not believe what she was about to do, but it
seemed like the only logical thing, under the circumstances, “C’mon… I have a
fresh pot of some of Greg’s secret stash that should be ready by now.”
Barely able to put two
thoughts together at that moment, Stephanie was easily led out of autopsy, “I
just need something to hold out for six and a half more hours on… Nothing
special.”
“Well, then you’re in for a
treat, because Greg has the best coffee in the place. And what he doesn’t know
can’t hurt us.” The doctor made a noise that could have been a chuckle, if she
had not been so exhausted.
When they reached the lab
break room, Sara guided the doctor to sit in one of the chairs, and then she
went to the sink to clean out a cup for her to use, and her own cup as well.
Sara returned to the table with two mugs of hot coffee and tapped the doctor on
the shoulder to get her attention so that she could pass her the mug. Slowly
looking to her side, Stephanie found a steaming mug of coffee at her left
shoulder and reached around to take the cup and cradle it between her hands.
She blew across the top of the mug and then inhaled sharply to get the odor of
the mystery coffee into her nostrils in the hopes that it would trigger some
association with being awake in her brain. She was pleasantly surprised by the
aroma of the coffee in her hands, and decided this might have been the best
idea she had heard in the last (she mentally counted back the hours in her head
for a moment) fourty nine hours. She blew across the top one more time, taking
in the aroma once more before she dove in and took her first taste of the
consciousness sustaining fluid.
The amazing taste of the
coffee in her hands was enough to give her a moment of clarity. She was in the
lab break room, having coffee with the one person she had not been able to
create a positive working relationship with yet. Then she remembered Hodges. Well, leeches don’t count as people, she
thought to herself. She was unable to hide the chuckle that escaped when she
had that thought and Sara had an inquisitive look on her face.
“Something funny about the
coffee?” Sara tried to be calm when she spoke, and she found that it was not as
hard as she would have thought.
“Not the coffee… Just thought
to myself, that I must be completely exhausted out of my mind, because I was
sitting down having coffee with the one person who’d like to see me roasting on
a spit, and that this stuff could have been poisoned.” As soon as the words
left her mouth, Stephanie realized that not only was she tired beyond belief,
but that she had just unleashed her dark humor on an unsuspecting and probably
undeserving woman.
Sara nearly choked on her
coffee in her bid to keep it from spraying all over the Break Room. She cleared
her throat and then responded from instinct, “Roasted on a spit might be a
little harsh, poisoning a little too gentle.” When she felt the other woman’s
eyes on her, she turned her head slightly and raised her eyebrow to its
unbelievable height.
That was when they both burst
out laughing, with the tension draining from each of them with every breath.
Sara was overcome with a sense of relief in the act itself. She had been
burying everything for days now and it had been eating away at her soul.
Everything she had heard about this woman made her think that under different
circumstances she would have been interested in getting to know her better, but
the green-eyed monster had prevented that from coming to pass, until now.
Stephanie was the first to
speak, “Look, I know I was a total jerk last week, and really am sorry for the
whole mess. I hope this means that we can get past that…” She sat back in her
chair as she attempted to form another thought.
Sara had beat her to the
punch, “You aren’t the only one… I have something of a reputation for
overreacting, as I am sure you’ve heard, and I guess it was just hard to get
past that.” She took a deep breath and knew in her heart that what she was
about to say was important and needed to be done, “And if you can forget that I
am a cast-iron bitch, I can forget about the hot-headed, total jerk thing…
Deal?”
Stephanie let out a deep sigh
before she answered, “That’s the best
idea I’ve heard all week…” With the removal of the regret from their first
meeting, and the stimulation of the coffee, Stephanie had to add one more
thing, “And I never thought you were a cast-iron bitch… Aluminum, maybe.” The
two women shared some hearty laughter and enjoyed their coffee.
It was not long before the
two began to talk about everything that had gone on in the lab that week, their
professional backgrounds, where they had worked, what their goals were, and
their theories about certain evidentiary practices and procedures. Sara regaled
her with stories about the others in the lab, tried to warn her about Hodges
and gave her tips for dealing with a few of the more challenging men in the
office. That was when the topic rolled into Stephanie’s various altercations
with Hodges over the last two weeks. She had told Sara about the incident down
in autopsy that Warrick had walked in on, and how if he had not walked in at
that moment, she was about to shove the infuriating little man into one of the
drawers and walk away. Sara had to agree that it probably would not have done
any good.
By the time Stephanie was
paged to return to the morgue, more than an hour had passed, and they had gone
through two pots of Greg’s best coffee. Sara could not believe that she had
spent all that time talking with the woman who had just taken Grissom away from
her. But she had to admit that Stephanie was an amazing woman, and no matter
how much she might want to hate her because of what she represented, she simply
could not hate this woman. Stephanie was intelligent, kind, funny, morose,
quick-witted, sarcastic, positive and damn talented. She knew in that moment
that they might not be the best of friends, simply because of the situation
they were immersed in, but Sara was not going to make her an enemy either.
As Stephanie made her way
down to Autopsy once again, she was struck with an odd revelation. She had just
spent nearly two hours with Sara and not once, in any of their stories or
ramblings had either of them mentioned Gil. Stephanie could not recall if she
had tried or not, just that the topic never seemed to get around to him. In
fact, she was quite certain that a couple of times the conversation may have
been steered away from the topic by Sara. She made a mental note to talk to
Catherine about this revelation when they met at the diner before shift
tomorrow.
Chapter 17
Catherine took a seat in her
usual booth at the diner and prepared to enjoy her meal alone. She had made
plans to meet Stephanie for something to eat before their shift tonight, but
when she checked in at the office before heading over to the diner, Catherine
learned that the new medical examiner had pulled a marathon shift over the
previous few days, so she expected the young woman to be spending the night
recovering at home. The waitress had already brought her some coffee and taken
her order, and Catherine decided the quiet would be a welcome change tonight.
The last couple of weeks had
been jam-packed with activity and new developments; the greatest of which was
the arrival of Dr. Stephanie MacInnerney. The vibrant and incredibly sharp
young woman had immediately impressed Catherine with her intelligence and quick
wit. She also realized that Stephanie had most of the males in the department
on their ears with her striking beauty. Catherine had found in the young doctor
someone she could relate to in a way that she had been missing in her recent
life. The girl was bright, but she was also brash, and Catherine felt in her a
kindred spirit. Even at their first meeting, Catherine knew that this woman was
someone she was going to enjoy getting to know. And when she learned about her
connection to Gil, it made it all the more tantalizing to learn more about this
new woman. What she had learned so far was that Stephanie had fast become a
good friend as well. They shared a great many things, including their desire to
look after the one person they had in common. As she sipped from her coffee
cup, Catherine smiled one of her most feline smiles.
“Well, that look makes me
think you’ve got something going on.” Catherine was shocked out of her
introspection by Stephanie’s sudden arrival. The young woman signaled to the
waitress as she scooted across the seat and took her place in the opposite side
of the booth from Catherine.
“What the devil are you doing
here?!” Catherine was completely surprised to not only see the young doctor,
but to find her wide awake and apparently cheerful.
“Weren’t we meeting before
shift tonight?” Stephanie gave her a puzzled expression, but before Catherine
could respond, the waitress arrived.
“What can I get you, honey?”
The ancient Vegas waitress croaked her question as she poured Stephanie a cup
of coffee.
“Ahhh.. Scrambled egg whites,
whole grain toast, orange juice, fries, sausage links and a fruit bowl?”
Stephanie looked up at the woman and smiled at her with a warmth the veteran
waitress was not used to, and she was so caught up in it that she smiled back.
“Alright, honey… Comin’ right
up.” She even patted Stephanie on the shoulder before she walked away chuckling
to herself. Stephanie seemed to have that affect on everyone.
Catherine shook her head in
disbelief, “How in the world can you be so perky after pulling a fifty plus
hour shift that ended what… Thirteen hours ago?”
Stephanie took a sip from her
coffee cup and smiled before answering. “That’s easy… Nine hours of sleep, an
hour of fantastic sex,” Catherine practically choked on her coffee, “resolving one of my biggest problems in a
single revelation, and FINALLY putting to rest the problems with a coworker
yesterday. Makes the next day one of the
best ever.” It was Stephanie’s turn to take on a feline expression of
satisfaction.
Catherine smirked at the
young woman’s explanation, “Well, whatever it is you’ve got, would you please
bottle it and give me some? I would still be trying to unscramble my brains
after pulling that kind of a shift.”
“Follies of youth?”
Catherine’s expression of unwanted surprise was enough to elicit a laugh from
the younger woman. “Sorry, I use that joke a lot… Happens when you’re always
the youngest person in the room.”
She had to give her that, and
she just shook her head, “Well, it’s good to see you either way.” Catherine
thought a little more about what Stephanie had said before, “Which coworker?”
“Oh, um, I got the air
cleared with ah, Sara last night.” She scooted back in the booth seat and
stretched her legs out on the bench. “You know what? She’s really pretty cool,
and man, she’s got one amazing mind. I was totally blown away by some of the
things we talked about.”
Once again, Catherine was
completely shocked by the things this girl was able to accomplish. “Wait, you
got Sara to talk? About real stuff?”
“Once we got past the normal
crap, we had a really nice talk… Until I got paged to go back to the morgue,
that is.” She took another sip from her coffee cup. “I’m still waiting for that
slow time David talked about.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath if
I were you.” They both chuckled and then sat up straight as the waitress
arrived with their food.
“Okay, ladies… One Denver
Omelet and an English Muffin.” She set the food down in front of Catherine,
“And one mostly healthy, absolutely enormous breakfast for the youngster.” Once
she had finished putting all the food down she planted a hand on her hip, “Sure
you can handle all that food, Sweetie?”
Stephanie looked over the
plates with a voracious glint in her eyes, “Oh yeah… Besides, this is probably
the only meal I’ll get until tomorrow morning.” She and Catherine both laughed
at her comment, but mostly because they both knew it was more true than not.
The waitress walked away
shaking her head with a smile on her face, and left the two women to start in
on their food. For all appearances,
nothing seemed to be on their minds as they ate, but as they each made an
impact on the food before them, the small talk kicked in.
“I almost forgot! Thomas
found that old study guide for Lindsay when he was unpacking this weekend.”
Catherine swallowed the
morsel in her mouth before responding, “Oh great… I’m sure she’ll appreciate it
as much as that other stuff you gave her for school.” Catherine smiled at the
thought, “We both had a blast with you guys last week, and Linds is really
taking a shine to you two… But, I think she might have a little crush on
Thomas.”
Stephanie just chuckled as
she spread the butter on her toast, “Well, I can’t blame the girl. I mean, he
is a total babe.” Both women laughed heartily at the joke.
“So, what was that you said
about solving your biggest problem?” Catherine was never one for much small
talk.
“Oh! Yeah, after everything
that’s happened the last couple weeks, I decided planning a wedding is NOT on my list of things to do right
now.” She had just dropped a time bomb, but Stephanie looked like she had done
nothing more than given a weather report.
Catherine, on the other hand,
looked like she was about to choke on her last bite of English Muffin. “You cancelled your wedding?”
“God no!” Stephanie shook her
head as she quickly chewed the food in her mouth, “No… I just decided, and
Thomas agrees, we’re just gonna fast track the whole thing and get it over
with.”
“Get it over with?” Catherine
shot her a carefully raised eyebrow.
“Real romantic, huh?”
Stephanie laughed at her own joke before finishing her answer, “I know, I know,
but you have to remember, Thomas and I have been together for seven years, and
we’ve been engaged for more than five of those.” It was with that thought that
she got serious, “I already messed up with waiting this long, and I don’t want
to keep making the same mistake.”
Catherine saw the far away
look in Stephanie’s eyes and had to know the reasoning behind her answer, “What
mistake was that, Steph?”
“Cath, I’m an only child, and
my parents had me late in life to boot… Because I got it in my head that I
didn’t want to deal with a marriage in case Thomas and I got separated by our
careers, my Pop died before he got to walk me down the aisle.” A small lump formed in Catherine’s throat,
and she guessed that maybe she was not as cynical as everyone thought she was
after all. “So, I’m not gonna wait any longer to plan some elaborate party that
I don’t need. I’m just gonna find a priest, get a place for a few people to
watch and marry that man before anything else happens.” Stephanie flashed
Catherine with a smile, but she was almost positive that a tear was threatening
to come loose.
Catherine reached across the
table and laid her hand on the younger woman’s forearm, “Well, then tell me
what you need and I’ll see if I can’t help make it as painless as possible.”
Catherine gave her one of those killer smiles of hers and a little wink.
Stephanie took a deep breath,
“Well, if you’re serious… Neither of us has any idea where to do this thing.” She thought about that statement for a
moment. “That’s not true… If we have it in a Vegas wedding chapel, my mother
will never speak to me again.” Both women enjoyed a hearty laugh at the
off-hand comment.
“Honey, I would never speak to you again if you did that… So, give me a day
or two and I’ll have something perfect for you guys… Did you have a date in
mind?” Catherine pulled out her calendar and was ready to jot down some notes.
“Two weeks from yesterday.”
Not for the first time in the last two weeks, Catherine found herself
speechless, and her face showed every ounce of it. “Now, before you go thinking
I’ve completely lost my mind… Thomas’ best friend is leaving Vegas in three
weeks, two of our friends living in Chicago are going to be finishing their
honeymoon here that weekend, Thomas’ sister will actually be in town that
weekend, and my Mom will be here on Friday and staying for two weeks. The
timing is perfect.” She followed up her explanation by taking in a big mouthful
of eggs.
Catherine still had a hard
time processing all the information Stephanie had just given her, but she
really did not need to in order to help. “Okay, so I have less than two weeks
to get you a place that I wouldn’t be ashamed to have a wedding in,” Catherine
wrote a few things down in her datebook. “Hey, what about a dress?”
Stephanie worked to swallow
the food in her mouth so she could respond as she shook her head, “No problem
there… I can just use Mom’s.” She took a drink of her juice to clear her throat
before continuing, “She’s a little shorter than me, but I didn’t want anything
floor length anyway. And I know it fits, because when we got engaged she had me
try it on.”
“Well, that’s at least
something…” Catherine looked up from her datebook, “Is there anything else we
need to worry about?” The young woman looked like she was thinking about
something, but Catherine could tell she still had something up her sleeve.
“Alright… Out with it, missy.”
She smiled broadly, and then
sat back in her seat, “Well, I really only need help with one more thing…” Her
pregnant pause was enough to warrant an eyebrow raise from Catherine in
anticipation of what this fiendish young woman was plotting, “Uncle Gil.”
That time Catherine nearly
did a spit take right there at the table, “Oh Honey… I think you might be on
your own with THAT project. You’d
have better luck solving the Riddle of the Sphinx.” Both women laughed in
agreement.
“No seriously… It’s really
not that big a deal… I just need to get him to give me away at the wedding and
find him a girlfriend… How hard could that be?”
Stephanie took another drink
from her glass as Catherine stared at her with her mouth hanging open in
disbelief. She was struck dumb by such a
casual remark regarding the single most enigmatic man she had ever known. In
her experience, nothing with Gil Grissom was “not a big deal.” And what
Stephanie was proposing was something she had been trying to accomplish for
years. Catherine thought to herself, How
in the world does this kid think she can perform that kind of miracle? She
tried to recover her faculties of speech before responding to the comment,
“Steph, I’ve been trying to figure out that last part for years, and the only
thing I came up with was that your uncle just wasn’t meant to be in a
relationship with anyone.”
Stephanie eyed Catherine
doubtfully. “If you really thought that, you’d have given up on him years ago.
He’s not an easy guy to even be friends with, let alone as close as you two
are. And I know, despite the rumor running through the whole lab, that you two
never had anything beyond friendship.” Stephanie stacked her plates as she
talked, “Uncle Gil is complicated and has a ton and a half of baggage, but he’s
not impossible. Frustrating, yes… Pig-headed, sure… Stuck in his head most of
the time, no doubt… Completely obsessed with his work, absolutely…” The more
she listed off Gil’s traits, the more Catherine understood where she was going
with this line of thought, “But when it comes down to it, the man is powder keg
of emotion and passion, just waiting for the right person to have that one
match that will light his ridiculously complex fuse.”
Catherine was in absolute
awe. This young woman had just completely summed up what had taken her years to
even hint at about a man that she considered a very dear friend. Gil had been
one of her biggest supporters when she became a CSI, and he was the only one
there for her during the whole mess with Eddie; before, during and after the
divorce. Even when he was driving her completely crazy, she always knew that he
would be there for her if she needed him. She looked down into her swirling
coffee cup and started shaking her head, “Are you sure you’re only twenty six?”
“Last time I checked.”
“Because that was the most
insightful description of that man I have ever heard, and some twenty six year
old, punk kid should not have that much wisdom crammed into her head.”
Stephanie actually blushed at Catherine’s compliment, confirming her affection
for the girl. “Okay, great wise child, since I’m sure you have some kind of
plan, what do you have in mind?”
“I’ve met a couple people
that could definitely be some possibilities… But I was looking for some
background from you.” Stephanie’s eyes opened wide suddenly, “Oh yeah! And what
are you doing Friday night?”
Catherine looked down at her
datebook and then searched her mind, “Ah, nothing that I can think of.”
“Great! You’re coming to a
dinner party at our place and meeting my Mom.” The devilish glint in her eyes
had returned, “And making sure Uncle Gil doesn’t wimp out at the last second…
Just tell him you needed a date or something.”
With that comment, Catherine was convinced the girl was trying to make
her spit out her coffee at some point tonight. “Okay, now I’m pretty sure Sofia
is out, just from what Thomas told me about her… Way too high maintenance.”
Catherine shook her head at
Stephanie’s observation of the CSI turned detective, “That’s the understatement
of the century.”
“See, that’s why I needed to
talk to you about this… I can’t even get Gil to say ‘sex’ around me.” Once again Catherine nearly lost her coffee.
“Anyway, what do you know about his history with Sara?” That was the last straw for Catherine, and
immediately after spitting her coffee out all over the tabletop, she was
reaching for the napkins. “That good, huh?” Stephanie handed her another napkin
as Catherine looked up at her in slightly amused disbelief.
Shaking her head as she got
the rest of the coffee cleaned up, and glancing at her watch, Catherine panned,
“Honey, we don’t have enough time in the world for that discussion.”
Chapter 18
Catherine appeared in the
doorway, leaning hard on the frame, but Gil, completely caught up in whatever
he was doing, did not notice. She cleared her throat loudly, but still nothing.
“GIL!”
His head shot up from over
the laptop screen, “Catherine?”
“Finally… Look, we have a
full caseload tonight, and I’m gonna have to tear you away from the lab to help
out… Do you mind?” She worked very hard to keep the amusement from her voice,
but Catherine knew she was going to be enjoying this.
Grissom looked around his
desk, as though he was hoping there was something there that would help him get
out of going out in the field tonight. When his search proved fruitless, he
grabbed his clipboard and stood up, “I suppose not…” He replied and gestured
for her to lead the way, “Lead on, MacDuff.”
Catherine just shook her head
and let loose a quiet laugh at Grissom’s constant need to remind people just
how much he had read. She turned and strode through the hall of the lab with
her usual aire of confidence, secure in the knowledge that she had earned her
stripes and delighted in the notion that she was finally going to have an
opportunity to pay Grissom back for all their years of friendship. She and
Stephanie had come up with a plan of attack for the coming week, and she had to
admit, the girl was more cunning than she had given her credit for in the
beginning. These two fiery women were going to unleash their devices in an
attempt to help Gil Grissom open his eyes and his heart for the first time in
far too many years.
Before their shift, the young
woman had revealed to Catherine that her dear uncle had once been a very
different man from the closed off shell he had become, and Catherine had
revealed that there was something unspoken and unrequited between Gil and Sara
that had been simmering below the surface for years. Catherine had the
suspicion that Stephanie had not given her the full details, but neither had
she. Gil was still her friend, and some
things just should not be shared. She did not talk about Sara’s jealousy
regarding the potential Sofia fiasco and she did not dare let her know about
the whole Lady Heather situation.
Over the last two weeks,
Catherine had a heard a great many stories about Gil that just did not fit with
the image she had of the man. In fact, she had a hard time imagining him doing
most of the things that Stephanie had described to her. The only way she was
able to reconcile the young woman’s image of Gil to her own, was that she surmised
in Stephanie, he had found a safety net; a person who held no expectations of
him and simply cared for him unconditionally. And within that safety, he risked
nothing in opening himself up to this young woman. Catherine knew that Gil
Grissom was all about weighing risks, and his convictions were nothing more
than a shield to hide his cowardice for life, but it was in that thought that
Catherine realized Stephanie was the undamaged version of Gil; free of whatever
secrets that held him in the grips of fear from loss. She was brilliant,
possessed a keen wit, was well read, of strong moral fiber, with a well-rounded
sense of humor, and was humble and dedicated: just like Gil. But she was also
confident, demonstrative, open, outwardly caring, adventurous, self-aware and
filled with an incredible zest for life; which was everything Gil was lacking.
When they entered the break
room to dispense assignments, Catherine was even more certain that this little
plot was going to be deliciously fun and unbelievably satisfying in the end. As
she looked across the faces of the waiting CSI’s she felt some of that
wonderful feeling welling up inside. Time
to set the wheels in motion, Cat.
“Okay, looks like we have a
hot night for us…” She started by handing Nick an assignment sheet, “Nicky, I
need you to take Greg out on this one.” Nick took the sheet and examined it as
she continued, “At first glance, it was a simple B&E, but the owner showed
up and wanted to know where his safe was.”
Nick looked up, “They took
the whole safe?” He was shaking his
head of the thought of what that had to look like, and nudged Greg in the side,
“Hey, at least we can rule out the guy on the bike, huh?” Everyone laughed at
his reference to Sara’s smash and grab suspect from last week.
“Very funny, Cowboy.” Sara
was the only one not actually laughing, though she wore her signature smirk.
“Warrick,” Catherine handed
over two assignment slips to him, “You get to be the running man tonight.” She
flashed a smile his way when he winced at her comment, “Trick roll at the Palms
and a print lift at a burglary.” She flipped through her notes before
continuing, “Desert Valley Vending and Supply.’
Warrick lifted an eyebrow at
the last case, “Vending machine burglary? You gotta be kidding… How is that our
business?”
Catherine gave him a
non-committal shrug, “When it was the tenth hit in a week, and they got away
with two grand tonight. That makes it our business, and you’ll be going back to
the company warehouse to print the other machines hit as well.” She went back
to her notes again, “PD thinks it’s a group that just moved into the area, and
Detective Vega thinks it might be one of the L.A. gangs that’ve been trickling
into town lately.” Warrick nodded his understanding and she moved on.
She put her notes down and
looked up to find everyone with their eyes squarely on her, “And as I am sure
you all have heard… We have a high profile triple at the Bellagio, and I’ve
convinced Grissom to come out of his cave to assist me on that one, with Sara as backup.” She looked around the room
and found a few sly looks forming on the faces of her coworkers, but no one was
about to say anything. When it came to Sara and Grissom working a case
together, everyone hated the tension, but no one could deny the results. They
also knew that Catherine could probably have handled it just fine with only
Sara, but the two women tended to clash at times, and Grissom would act as the
buffer between them, while Catherine kept him and Sara at bay as well.
Catherine, on the other hand, knew that she was putting them together for a
very specific reason that had little to do with the work itself. “So, if no one
has any questions… Let’s get a move on people.”
It would be a whole new
ballgame tonight, and Catherine was the only one with the rulebook. Under her
breath, she added her own little quote for the situation, “Fasten your
seatbelts; it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
Chapter 19
To say that the ride over to
the Bellagio was tense would have been the understatement of the century. It
started out with Sara choosing the backseat, and Catherine had not been able to
come up with a decent excuse to convince her otherwise. However, to his credit,
Grissom seemed to be in a decent mood and did not take offense to Sara’s need
for distance. But the vibe coming from that backseat was enough for Catherine
to know that it would take some serious work to get these two into any kind of
a pleasant exchange. She was beginning to wonder what on earth Grissom had done
in his ignorance this time to get Sara’s ire up so badly.
She did not have to wait long
for that answer. Grissom’s phone went off and he responded, “Grissom… Oh hey…
And you’re sure the condi-… Oh, well if you were using the vitreous fluid… What
about the liver tissue sample?” She gathered from his conversation that
Stephanie was on the other end of that phone call. “Well, that is interesting…
Oh really?” His tone was very casual; familiar even, which was very Un-Grissom
like. “Well, thanks for letting me know right away… Did you get enough rest?”
From the backseat, Catherine was certain she heard a dejected sigh from Sara.
“Right, well, not for long if you keep that up… Me?... Well, I don’t know…
Okay, okay Steph, look, I’m driving to a scene now; can we finish this later?”
When Catherine used the visor mirror to catch a glimpse of Sara in the
backseat, she saw exactly where the tension was coming from, in the form of
that great big, green-eyed monster called jealousy. That was just too much for
Catherine to contain the devilish grin that passed over her face. Sara is actually jealous of Stephanie!
Contemplating that juicy little tidbit, she thought to herself, This is going to make Friday night even more
deliciously evil than Steph could have ever dreamed of.
Catherine would not share
this new information with Stephanie. Oh no, this was the kind of thing she
liked to keep her poker face on for, because she just knew it would make for
great theatre once the time came, and make their plans all the better in the
end. No, Catherine was going to chew on this one for a while. And she was going
to enjoy it.
She realized that she might
have already given away too much, when the sound of Grissom’s voice interrupted
her plotting, “Alright, Cath… You want to let that bird out now?”
She snapped right out of her
thoughts, “Huh, what?”
Grissom shook his head, “Oh
nothing… Just that whatever you were thinking gave me the distinct impression
that the cat had just swallowed the canary.” Grissom smirked as he stole a look
in her direction, and then called into the backseat, “Isn’t that right, Sara?”
There was no answer from behind him, so he tried again, “Sara, is the strip
that interesting tonight?” He was looking at her through the rearview mirror
and could see that she was staring out of the car without acknowledging his
comments. He mumbled to himself, “I guess so.”
Catherine was reveling in
this new turn of events, and calculated all the ways she could make mischief
with it over the next week. She decided in that moment that she would do
everything she could to keep Grissom working with Sara all week. She may have
just found the silver lining to their new partnership of authority. And as much
as she hated to admit it, Ecklie was responsible for it. I guess every little toad deserves their day in the sunshine.
Chapter 20
Two weeks changes everything.
That thought was foremost in
Stephanie MacInnerney’s mind as she posted her second body of the night. In the
last two weeks, her life had completely changed. In two weeks, it would change
again, and that thought made her smile.
That smile was the first
thing Warrick Brown saw as he entered the Autopsy Room, and it brought a grin
to his own face. He had to admit, this woman had delivered a much needed
injection of zest for life into CSI headquarters. The irony of that, with her
being a coroner, was not lost on him.
Before she noticed that there
was anyone else in the room, Stephanie made her final notes to the drawer index
and then slammed the drawer shut on another case. Her first indication that
there was another in the room was the groan that escaped Warrick’s mouth at the
crashing sound of the drawer closing: metal against metal. “Hey… When did you
get here, Mr. Lightweight?”
He crinkled his brow in
confusion as cocked his head back and to the side, “Lightweight?”
Stephanie laughed at his
response and walked to the other side of the room as she explained, “Oh… I
heard all about your little ‘boys’ night out.’” She chuckled when he winced at
the memory. “What ever possessed you to think you could out drink a group of
surgeons?” She shook her head with her question, “Those guys live to party.”
Warrick tried to shrug it
off, “Hey, I grew up in Vegas, I figured I could handle a bunch of transplant
college boys.”
“Yeah, well, that was your
first mistake…” She gave him a disapproving look and then laughed, “Your second
one was trying out drink any man whose name begins with ‘O’.”
Warrick scrunched up his face
in a puzzled expression, “’O’? I don’t
get it.”
Stephanie could not contain
her amusement, “You know, like O’Halloran… Or should I say ‘O’My God He’s
Irish?’” Warrick reeled back at the obvious jab.
“Yeah, well I learned my
lesson… No more playing with the big boys, unless I plan to add alcoholism to
my list of achievements.” He tried to play it off, but he really was still
feeling a little out of it from Friday night (or was that Saturday morning?). He had also decided the whole thing
was Stephanie and Tina’s fault; if they had not both had to work late, he would
have never run into Thomas and “the boys” as they left the hospital for a night
of drinking at the clubs. Although, he had to admit, it was a welcome change to
be hanging out with “the boys.” He just needed to re-learn what his limits
were, especially with that crew.
“Now, don’t go overreacting…
Thomas had a great time, even if he and Carter did have to carry you in the
door for your wife.” She gave him a wink to add insult to injury.
He contemplated that piece of
information a moment, “Hmmm… I wondered how I’d made it all the way to the
bedroom.” They both laughed at his comment. “Anyway, what I remember was good.
That Thomas is a right guy... And a lucky SOB to boot.” His wink added emphasis
to the compliment and elicited a slight blush from Stephanie.
“Yeah, I think I’m gonna keep
him… Until something better comes along, of course.”
Warrick dipped into a small
bow, “I’d expect nothing less.” Stephanie’s cheeks blushed once more and
Warrick decided he had better get his business taken care of or he would spend
all night down there relaxing. “So, were you able to get anything on that case
from last night? I asked Doc Robbins to leave it for you since you are the
exotic COD Queen lately.”
She laughed in response,
“Yeah, I’ve got that one… Report’s there on the table.” She walked towards the
ringing phone, adding, “And nothing exotic there,” just before answering.
“Autopsy… Okay, David… Three inbound, got it… Just finished so we should be
good to go if we tag team it… Oh, well I’m sure they can lend a hand on the
back end… Right, twenty minutes… I’ll have the coffee ready… Bye.”
Warrick gestured at the phone
she had just hung up, “Must be that triple Cath and Gris went out on, huh?”
“Yeah, David said it was a
pretty messy scene, so they’ll be there a while processing.” She walked over to
the supply room and grabbed a fresh box of gloves and drapes. “And we need to
get the bodies ready for ID right away, so we’ll have to make sure we collect
and document everything before the family arrives so they can be made
presentable.”
Warrick looked around the
room and brought his arms up in a resigned gesture, “Well, I got nothin’ going
on right now, while I wait for about six hundred prints to process through
APHIS. You want some help with prep?”
She sent him the warmest
smile he could remember seeing in a long time, “I could kiss you right now.”
He gave her a mock expression
of fear and surrender, “No way, Lady… I’ve met your husband, and I ain’t got a death
wish.” She was laughing pretty hard when she reached into the closet again and
took out some spare scrubs to throw at him. “What? I hold no illusions that
homeboy couldn’t wipe the floor with my butt in half a heartbeat.”
She flashed him her infectious
grin and said, “Well, he did spend three years doing just that at UCLA.”
Warrick shot her a puzzled
expression, “Doing what?”
“He was a first string tight
end for the Bruins… And boy was he.” That comment brought the blush to
Warrick’s cheeks. “He quit when the coach told him he needed to spend less time
in the A&P lab and more time in the weight room.”
Warrick searched through his
arsenal of sports statistics from back in his gambling and bookmaking days
until he finally made the connection, “Wait, THAT is ‘Tommyboy’ O’Halloran?!” Stephanie shrugged an answer in
the affirmative, “Wow! That guy had balls.” He was a little thrown back from
having talked like that in front of a woman, and tried to recover quickly,
“Well, I mean that took some nerve to walk away from what could have been a
serious NFL career.”
She was unable to contain her
laughter with his last comment, “Obviously, they never got a look at his knees!
He spent the entire time between graduation in December and the start of med
school the following September having his knees reconstructed and going through
rehab.” She shook her head at the notion that Thomas could have ever played
professional sports, “That boy has more metal in those legs than most new
cars.”
Warrick shook his head as he
processed the information. “Well, he was good, and he helped win me some money
a few times.”
Stephanie gave him a
concerned look, “I didn’t know you were a betting man.”
Warrick chuckled at that
notion, “In my younger days… Ended up costing me a lot more than money, so I
put that in the history column.”
Stephanie crossed over to him
and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Well, I’m happy to hear that… ‘Cause I’d
hate to have to kick your ass.” When his eyes shot up to meet hers, he found a
fiendish smile waiting for him, and returned it with one of his sideways grins.
“Well, now that we got that
out of the way… I’m gonna go throw these on before David comes wheelin’ in.”
Suddenly, from behind them,
Catherine came striding into the room, “Awww… What we don’t get to watch?” She
let one of her suggestive winks punctuate her off-color remark.
Warrick laughed because
Catherine was probably one of the few women who could get away with a remark
like that. As he thought about it, his shift seemed to be filled with the only
women he could imagine being able to get away with it and that brought out his
full-on electric smile. “Do we need you girls to attend one of them sensitivity
training sessions or something?”
Stephanie and Catherine
looked at each with a conspiratorial glint in their eyes, and Stephanie said,
“Would you like to handle that one, or should I?”
Once again, Warrick was
holding up his arms in a gesture of surrender, “No way… I’m gonna sneak away
before I really get embarrassed. You win.”
Catherine feigned
disappointment with a pout, “Well, he’s no fun at all.” They both laughed at
the humor of the situation, as Warrick disappeared into the bathroom.
“So, what are you doing here?
David said you guys had one hell of a scene to process.” Stephanie turned back
to prepping her supplies.
“Yeah, well, I left Grissom
and Sara there after I made a deal with the hotel manager.” She looked back at
the doors, as though she was making sure the coast was clear, “And I came back
here with David to steal Nicky and Greg in order to keep my word. But I wanted
to talk to you real quick before the boys bring the bodies down.” Stephanie
returned her full attention to Catherine, “Look, I think we’re gonna need a
little more help getting those two there… Let’s enlist Warrick.”
Stephanie checked both doors,
“You think so? What’s up?”
“Well, the waters have cooled
a little on one side of the pond as of late, and Warrick is the perfect person
to coax it back into the sun. I can handle Gil, but my history with Sara is not
stellar. So, getting Warrick in on this would go a long way to making it a
success.”
“Right,” Stephanie caught
a glimpse of Nick coming to the doors of the Autopsy Room, “Well I guess if you
had to make a deal like that, you better get the guys over there.” She hoped
that Catherine had caught on.
“Yeah, so I’ll leave Warrick here to help you and David to
get them ready and take the guys with me to get that scene processed as quickly
as possible.” She had caught on and once Nick and Greg were in the room, she
turned around and hooked her arms through both of theirs and led them out of
the room. “Let’s get moving, boys.” They both waved behind them at Stephanie
and she laughingly returned their farewell.
When Warrick re-emerged from
the bathroom, he found Stephanie, David and three corpses, “Talk about a let
down… From two beautiful women teasing me to David and three DB’s.”
David looked up from his task
and said, “And good evening to you, too Warrick.”
Chapter 21
The bellman cart that sat in
the hallway was under the guard of two of LVPD’s finest and was laden with
evidence boxes. Inside the room where the cart was parked, it appeared as
though a chop shop crew had come for a visit. Large swathes of carpet were
missing, the artwork had been visibly removed from the walls, there was not a
scrap of linen to be found, and every single object that was not nailed down
had been packed up. As Catherine and Grissom surveyed the room with their hands
planted firmly at their waists, Nick and Greg continued to tote the evidence
boxes into the hallway.
“Looks like we have set a new
record for stripping a hotel room in this town.” Catherine said with a grin on
her face.
“Did we remember the towels?”
Grissom gave a little wink.
Catherine slapped her hips
and turned to face Grissom, “Okay, well, I’m gonna take the boys and the
evidence back to the lab. I assume you’ll finish up here and then work the
bodies while we start processing the other evidence?” Catherine looked away
when the hotel manager appeared in the doorway, and to avoid Grissom’s watchful
gaze so that he would not sense her ulterior motives.
Grissom followed her gaze to
the door and they both nodded at the man standing there, “Yeah, as long as you
deal with that guy again.” Both of their faces displayed the same amused smirk.
Catherine tipped her gaze at
the floor, “You got it… See you back at the lab.” And with that Catherine
walked over to the hotel manager and began to play the political game with him
as she started down the hallway with Nick and Greg pushing the bellman’s cart;
the officers in tow. Grissom watched them depart and shook his head at the
humor of the situation.
He turned back to scan the
suite once more before he blew out a deep breath. Then he reached down to pick
up his kit before heading into the bathroom area to finish his work. Upon
entering the door, he looked around the very large room in search of something.
When he lowered his gaze to the floor, his eyes found what he was looking for;
Sara Sidle. She was lying on her back with her head and arms tangled up inside
the cabinet of the jacuzzi tub, where most likely she was searching for any
evidence that might have been caught in the traps. Grissom realized what a
dedicated CSI she was when he saw her struggling to get further into the
cabinet. He knew that most women would
have passed on this task to one of her male counterparts. There were a great
many things that Grissom admired in Sara, and they all struck him as he set his
own kit down on the countertop that the younger woman had already marked as
cleared.
Grissom carefully removed the
tools that he would be using to assist Sara in processing the bathroom and set
them out carefully on a tray. When he looked up from his tools, he was nose to
nose with his own image in the mirror before him. He could see that the gray
had finally won dominance in the hair on his head and in his beard, and that
caused him to experience the pangs of vanity that he usually worked to avoid at
all costs. He tried to remember just when time had become his greatest enemy.
However, before he could sink any farther into his reverie, he was brought back
to the scene by the sounds coming from behind him.
THUNK “Dammit!’ THWACK “Shit!”
Grissom turned to watch as
Sara was wriggling violently inside the cabinet, almost as though she was
trying to get even further inside. “Sara?”
BONK “Owwww… Yeah?” Her voice sounded distant and
frustrated.
“Are you okay in there?”
Grissom had bent down beside her and was trying to get a picture of what it
looked like under there.
“I’m fine… But this drain
trap is about to get shot.” CLANK “Son of a-.”
“Sara!”
“Look, you can either listen
to me swear or you can help by getting that other panel off and see if there is
a better angle for this damn pipe wrench.” It was quite obvious that Sara’s
frustration level had reached its peak.
Grissom stood up and looked
around with a puzzled expression, “What panel?”
“C’mon, Grissom…” BANG
BANG BANG “Follow the noise, get that thing off, so I can try to get
out of here.” Sara’s tone was anything but amiable, and in fact, Grissom got
the distinct impression that she was truly angry at that moment.
He walked over to where the
sound had come from and to his surprise, there was another panel which looked
like it had come loose; most likely from the vigorous abuse it had just
received. “Found it… I’ll have it off as soon as I can find the latch.”
From inside the cabinet,
Grissom heard Sara distinctly sigh heavily, “There is no latch, Grissom… Get
out the screwdriver… And hurry.” Grissom looked around for the screwdriver and
when he found it he bent down again and started removing the screws from the
panel. He was hurrying to get the panel off in an attempt to avoid anymore of
Sara’s anger. Once he had all the screws out he lifted the panel and peered in
to try and visualize the trap Sara was attempting to reach.
He hung his head in defeat
when he realized the trap in question was well out of range of the space
provided by the panel. “Sara, it’s not going to make a difference.”
BANG “That’s it!” There was suddenly a flurry of movement
inside the cabinet and Grissom realized that she had started working her way
back out of the cramped space. He stood up and moved back to the side of the
tub were her legs were sticking out.
“Sara… Hold still.”
“Grissom, I need to get out
of here if I am going to get at that trap, so just back off.” Sara’s anger was
building.
“I said… Hold Still!”
Thankfully, she stopped wriggling around and he bent down to get a good view of
the situation, “Now, hand the tools through to me at your feet.” Again, she
complied with his command, “Okay, now keep your arms free of any obstructions.”
It was very quiet inside the
cabinet for a moment and Grissom was about to ask if everything was all right
when he heard a resigned sigh, “What are you planning?”
“Well, you could spend the
next ten minutes wiggling around to get out, or you can just let me pull you
out of there.” He was not sure, but he almost thought he heard her breath catch
in her throat. He pushed the thought aside, “Ready?”
He heard some movement inside
the cabinet and then heard her blow out a breath, “Yeah, go ahead.”
He reached out to grab Sara
by the ankles, careful to take a firm grip, and gingerly began to extricate her
from the cabinet, inch by inch. “Okay so far?”
“Just keep going, I’m fine.”
Grissom took her defeatist tone as just her wounded pride and proceeded to take
hold of her again, this time at her calves. And again, inch by inch he slowly
pulled her from the bathroom fixture. As he reviewed the situation, he realized
that one more pull and she would be free of the tangle of pipes, wiring and
supporting structures.
He reached up just a little
higher and wrapped his hands around the underside of her knees and prepared to
make that last pull, but was surprised by the sudden tensing he found in the
muscles there. He immediately pulled his hands away, “Am I hurting you?” His
words dripped with his deep concern, and he was growing even more apprehensive
by her silence.
When he did not think he
could stand it any longer, she cleared her throat, “No… I ah… I’m just ah… It
just ahh… Well, it tickled.” Grissom would have breathed a sigh of relief, but
Sara’s voice seemed unusually strained. He decided that it was probably
nothing, but he was going to try and question her about it on the ride back to
the lab.
“Oh, well, I was just afraid
of pulling your knees apart by going lower… Are you ready now?” Grissom was
explaining himself with total logic, but even he had to admit to himself that
it was a somewhat awkward position to be in, and so he could understand her
discomfort. At that moment, he just wanted to get her out of that cabinet and
let them both move away from this uncomfortable situation between them.
“Go ahead… I’m ready now.”
Her words were tense, but he took her at them and reached out once more to give
her that final pull from the cabinet. When he looked down into her eyes once
she was free of the inner workings of the tub, he was struck by the
vulnerability he found there.
He held out his hands for her
to take them and helped her to her feet, which brought her to within less than
an inch of him. He gripped her around the waist when he thought she was
struggling for balance and their eyes met once again. For Gil Grissom, time
appeared to stop in that instant, and it was not until Sara broke the gaze by
looking down that it started again. With the eye contact broken, Grissom
suddenly felt the overwhelming tension of the situation as well as an
undeniable urge to make that contact again.
Before he could say or do
anything, Sara moved away from him and to the other side of the room to get
something from the tool bag. Grissom took a steadying breath and spoke as a way
of clearing the fog forming in his own mind, “Are you okay? I mean, you didn’t
get hurt under there at all, right?”
“Nope… Not under there at
all.”
Chapter 22
The Click/Pop/Whine of the
camera leaked out into the corridor of the Autopsy Room. The repetitious sounds
became almost like a cadence, and might have been soothing, were it not for the
constant flashing. Warrick was going through the motions of the photographing
process for the four bodies before him. They had started out with a triple that
night, but another victim was found on scene and rushed to the hospital. About
twenty minutes prior, the hospital had delivered the body; the victim did not
make it.
He would never admit it to
anyone else, but this was the part of the job that he was the most
uncomfortable with; the documenting of the bodies. The images would stay with
him for days, whenever he had to run this part of a case. It was one of the
many things that made working a case with Sara or Catherine easier, because not
only were they good at it, that kind of documenting was easy for them. They
were able to detach themselves from the task, and break it down to the minutia.
There were many times that Sara’s photos would yield information that they had
not visualized without her detail work. Her ability to break a case down to the
smallest pieces, while still seeing things in the big picture to work out the
facts always seemed to amaze him, and he admired her ability to switch tracks
seamlessly. He liked working cases with Sara because it helped him to look at
things differently, and he figured some of her skills would rub off on him
eventually.
He stepped back from the
cleaning table to get a better view of the body as a whole and ended up bumping
into the woman who was attempting to pass by, “Whoa there… You need some backup
beepers on that thing.”
He lifted up his eyebrow at
her comment, “’That thing?’”
Stephanie was laughing, “Oh
please, like you don’t know.” Warrick blushed.
“You always this forward,
Miss Thing?” He shook his head as he attempted to hide his obvious
embarrassment.
“Nah… I think it’s just you.”
That time he laughed. “So, are you done there yet?”
He checked his notes and
nodded, “Yeah… I just need a couple reference shots and then he’s all yours.”
Stephanie plopped down on her
stool and leaned her head back, rolling it around from side to side. “Man,
isn’t this shift over with yet?”
“Not yet… You feelin’ that
marathon shift still?” He clicked off a few more pictures to finish the roll
and cleared the canister.
“Not really, I mean, yeah,
I’m still a little drained… But truthfully, I’m just stressing a little bit.”
She reached up and stretched out her shoulders one at a time.
“What do you have to be
stressin’ on?”
Stephanie’s eyes snapped open
at his question, “Oh yeah, you haven’t heard yet… Thomas and I sort of had a
‘Come to Jesus” about the wedding.”
“Do I dare ask?” Warrick’s
expression showed his apprehension.
“Sure, we decided we just
didn’t have the time or the patience for planning a serious wedding… So, we’re
getting married in two weeks without all the fuss.” Warrick figured it had to
be a good thing by the smile that graced her face.
“Oh, well… Then
congratulations, I guess.” He laughed without reservation once he knew the
situation and he reached for his cup of coffee.
“But first… I gotta get Gil
sorted out.”
Warrick nearly choked on his
coffee, “Somehow… I think you’re gonna need a lot more than two weeks for that
one, girl.” It was Stephanie’s turn to laugh.
“Please, with me and
Catherine on the case, we’ll have him on the right path by Friday.”
Warrick groaned when she
mentioned Catherine’s involvement, “Well, just remind me to stay on your good
side then, because you two together scares me just thinkin’ ‘bout it.”
“Oh that’s okay… Because
we’re getting you in on it, too.” She pushed away on her stool to get started
on the last body.
“Excuse me?” Warrick’s face
held his expression of shock well.
“You heard the girl,
Warrick.” Catherine sauntered across the Autopsy Room to stand between Warrick
and Stephanie. “Besides, tell me you don’t want to be in on finally getting rid
of all that tension on shift?”
Catherine’s face once again showed her to be her feline self.
“You ladies are dangerous.”
He rubbed at his chin with a smirk on his face, “But I gotta admit, if you
ladies are as good as I think you are, it’s gotta be worth it… Count me in.”
Catherine winked at him and
said, “Well, when we’re good… We’re very good. And-.”
“When we’re bad… We’re even
better.” Stephanie added her own flair to the end.
Chapter 23
With his face obscured by the
microscope, Sara stole a sideways look at Grissom. She was trying to wean
herself from thinking about him, but it was simply not easy. It had become a
habit, and some habits were just not easy to break. Grissom was not easy to break.
She shook her head, hoping to
clear the thoughts from her mind and get back to work. She took a deep breath
and rolled her neck around. She winced at a stinging feeling in her neck, and
brought her hands up to examine the source. She found a sticky, raised line of
tissue there and brought her hand back down to see what was now stuck to her
finger. Sara stared at her hand for a moment with what she saw there not
registering in her mind at first. However, her actions had not gone unnoticed,
and she knew this when Grissom was instantly at her side, saying something to
her. She blinked her eyes once, then twice. Finally, she was able to respond,
“I’m fine Grissom… It’s just a scratch.”
“Sara, would you just let me
get a look at it.” Grissom was being very insistent, and even though she wanted
to, Sara knew there was nothing she could do. Grissom was relentless when it
came to protecting his people.
So, she lowered her arms and
surrendered her stance, “Fine, but it’s just a scratch.”
They were looking eye to eye
when he spoke, “Let me be the judge of that.” He slowly reached up and gently
brushed the hair away from her neck. For what seemed like an eternity their
eyes were locked, but then Grissom broke the stalemate and tilted his head down
to get a better look at her neck. When he got closer to her neck she stiffened
slightly as she heard his breath near her ear, and she just hoped that he had
not noticed. It was when his fingers came into contact with her neck that she
was not able to hide her response. She nearly jumped off of her stool, and
Grissom retracted quickly, for fear he had caused her pain, “I’m sorry… Is it
that sensitive?”
Sara worked to recover fast,
“Ah, no… Ah, your fingers… They’re um, they’re a little cold.” Grissom gave her
a smirk and then rubbed his hands together to warm them up. When he reached up
again and stroked the wound to examine it. Sara was lost in the sensation of his
fingers on her neck, and she did not notice when he brought his head back
around to look her in the eye. The look he found on her face, with her eyes
half closed made the breath catch in his throat.
Grissom had to clear his
throat in order to break the trance. “I need to get it cleaned up to have a
better look.” Sara’s eyes immediately popped open, but he had already moved
away.
She looked around, but she
did not see him, and when he suddenly reappeared at her side she jumped. He
held up the medkit with a grin on his face, “This should do the trick.” He
turned to face the table and set up his first aide station. Sara took in a deep
breath and tried to steel herself for his next ministrations. She needed all of
her strength not to get caught up in the sensations that she had felt before.
Sara knew that Grissom was just being his regular self, but she was just not
ready for that kind of contact.
Grissom appeared to be taking
an unusual amount of time putting together a cleaning preparation. Sara was
about to tell him that she did not have all night to wait for this because she
had evidence to process. However, she was not prepared for what happened next.
“Okay, now just remember, I’m not used to my patients having a pulse, let alone
being able to talk back.” Sara sat up bolt straight in shock.
Grissom called back to the
woman who had just entered the room, “Hey Steph… I see you found your way
here.”
“I had a map and some
breadcrumbs, thank you.” Sara turned to see Stephanie walking towards her with
her tongue stuck out at Grissom to show her lack of appreciation at his jibe,
and their comfort together. “So, Sara, was he at least good looking?”
Sara was not sure what she
was going to do or say, but she knew she had better think fast because she
realized that her mouth was hanging open. “Ah… Umm… Huh?”
Stephanie was right beside
her at this point, “You know… The vampire that thought it might be a good idea
to go after someone like you?” Stephanie winked at her to show she was making a
joke and then took the antiseptic and gauze from Grissom’s grasp and took a
closer look at the wound on Sara’s neck. “Well, this doesn’t look too bad…
Probably just a scratch, but with the fact that it broke the skin, if you
haven’t had a tetanus shot for a while, you really should go in and get one.
When was your last tetanus shot?” Stephanie did not wait for an answer and set
about to clean the wound.
Sara thought back to when she
had last received a tetanus shot, “It’s been less than two years.” She was
desperately working to maintain her composure.
Stephanie was carefully
removing the blood and grime from the area of the wound, “Hmmm umm… Well,
double check your records and if you haven’t had one in longer, please holler
at me and I’ll make arrangements for you to get one over at Desert Palms.”
Stephanie was busy with her ministrations and was not really paying attention
to Sara or her somewhat obvious state of distress. For a few moments, there was
only the sound of Stephanie humming quietly as she went about her work. “So,
did you catch that new piece they had on Discovery about the cicadas in the
South?”
Sara was still having trouble
thinking straight, and was even more shocked to having been asked a question
about bugs from the coroner. “No, I missed it when it was on the first time,
but I managed to get a recording of it when it came on the second time, I just
haven’t been able to watch it yet. Was it any good?” Grissom was answering the
question, and that was when Sara realized it had not been directed at her in
the first place. That was also when her heart sunk just a little further.
“It had some interesting
theories, but I was a little disappointed in it overall.” She was applying
something cool to the wound on Sara’s neck, but nothing was going to make her
real hurt go away at that moment. “I mean, they didn’t even cover the extended
dormant period or the basis of the attraction in their thrumming.”
Grissom screwed up his mouth
in a puzzled expression, “Seems hardly worth the effort if they weren’t even
going to gloss over that information, because what else would they be basing
their theories upon, if not the essential factors of their existence.”
“Exactly what I thought!”
Stephanie was shaking her head in a show if disgust, she took one more look at
her handiwork, then placed a layer of gauze over the scratch, and held her hand
gently over the wound. “Okay, Sara… It was just a bit more than a scratch, but
only a little. You should be able to take the bandage off in twenty four hours,
and then just keep treating it with a small amount of topical antibiotic cream
for about a week. That should keep it from scarring, and make it heal a little
faster.” Once she was certain the bandage was firmly in place she removed her
hand and looked Sara in the eye before she spoke, “Now, when you go to take
this off tomorrow, take yourself a nice long soak. I used a liquid skin to
cover it and hold the lac together, and it’ll make taking the bandage off a
little tricky. So, give it plenty of time to soften up before you take it off,
okay?” Stephanie grinned at Sara, and kept looking at her until she
acknowledged her understanding.
Sara managed to hold herself
together just long enough to let the woman know she understood her instructions,
“Yeah… I’ll be careful, but for now, I really need to finish processing this
evidence… If you don’t mind?” She had come across as solid and focused; the two
things that Sara was the farthest away from at that moment.
“Sounds great… Just holler if
you need me for anything, okay?” Sara nodded and Stephanie started putting the
supplies back into her bag, leaving Grissom to close up the things from the
medkit.
When Stephanie turned to
leave the Processing Lab Grissom called after her, “Hold up, I’ll walk you back
down and you can tell me about our victims.” Sara could not remember a time she
was so glad to have Grissom leave her alone as she was in that moment.
Sara went back to her work.
In her work, she was always strong, and it made so much more sense than the
rest of her life. Her work was science, and it was structured. Her life, it was
anything but structured.
Chapter 24
The boys were each going
through stacks of paperwork toward the end of the first shift of the week.
Warrick was waiting for the Photo Lab to finish developing the photographs he
had taken of the victims from the quadruple murder that night at the Bellagio.
However, he still had to finish putting the log of his photographs into the
case file, and that was what he was working on there at the Break Room table.
Nick and Greg were still cataloging everything that they had collected in the
hotel room. Their joint report looked to be the winner for the night in terms
of number of trees killed to document everything for that shift.
Nick looked up from his
evidence log and had a pensive expression on his face. Warrick noticed him out
of the corner of his eye and decided he needed some prodding to break up the
monotony of their joint paperwork project, “Is that gas, or you got somethin’
on your mind?”
“Ha, ha, ‘Rick…” He smirked
at the other man before answering, “No, I was just thinking; how did Catherine
get the hotel manager to agree to let us practically strip that suite?”
“You’re kiddin’, right? I bet
even Greggo there knows the answer to that one.” Warrick gestured in the
younger man’s direction and Greg’s head popped up in response.
“Answer to what?” He was
pulling the earphone out of his left ear.
Nick shook his head at Greg,
“Why the manager of the Bellagio let us strip the suite?”
“Are you kidding? That was a
suite for whales.” Greg shrugged off his question and bent his head back down
into his evidence log and finished his answer, “They’re gonna have to
completely remodel it before another one would set foot in it. So we just saved
the hotel management a bundle in disposal costs.”
Warrick laughed at Nick and
gave Greg a high five across the table, “Nice work… Good to see you payin’
attention, little man.”
Nick shook off their
admonishment and went back to working on his own evidence log before asking
another question, “So, am I the only who’s noticed Grissom lately?”
Greg was back into his own
world of music, so he did not respond to Nick’s question, but Warrick sighed
with exasperation, “Man, I don’t think I can handle three people crushin’ on
the boss man ‘round here.”
“Screw you, bro.” Warrick
laughed as Nick did not receive his joke well. “You know exactly what I’m
talkin’ about… He’s practically been smilin’ lately.” Nick shook his pen at the
other man, “And he’s been doing this for weeks now, slowly gettin’ better all
the time.” Nick thought about it a little more, “I’d say it’s been goin’ on for
‘round a month now.”
“Yeah… The man has been a lot
easier to work with lately.” Warrick realized that it was around the time that
Stephanie had accepted the job in the morgue, but he was not about to say
anything to that effect. He had made a promise, and he was going to keep it:
nobody was finding out about Stephanie and Grissom from him. Well, almost nobody… But that ain’t ‘til
Friday. He turned his attention back to Nick, “Why; you complainin’?”
“Hell no! I was just
wonderin’ if he hadn’t finally got some or somethin’.” The two men were
laughing at the humor of Nick’s statement. What they did not know was that Sara
had been just about to walk into the Break Room when she caught the tail end of
that discussion and then turned quickly to walk away. As she was rounding the
corner in the hallway, she bumped headfirst into someone.
She might have fallen
straight to the floor, had not a strong pair of hands gripped her at the
shoulders and held her steady. She was making her apology when she finally
recognized her victim, “Hey I’m really sorr-…” The words stuck in her throat,
and she struggled to recover from the shock, “Ah, sorry, Grissom… I guess I was
just-.”
“Thinking about something
else? I think I understand the
predilection.” He held her away from him and looked her over for a moment, “Are
you okay?”
Every word was a fight to
maintain her composure and she was not sure of anything that was coming out of
her mouth at that moment, “Ah… Um… Yeah, I’m fine.” When he released his hold
on her, she had finally broken eye contact with him and it had helped a little,
“I just realized I’d forgotten something in the ah, the ah, the Trace Lab. So,
I was heading back that way.” Sara had made it through another sentence, but
she was almost sure that Grissom had noticed her difficulty.
“Actually, I snagged it when
I was just there… No one needs to
deal with Hodges this early in the week.” Grissom rolled his deep blue eyes at
the mention of the infuriating tech from Trace, and the action nearly
hypnotized Sara. Grissom continued, “Looks like you were right to be so
persistent with those drain traps.”
At the word trap, Sara
realized Grissom was talking again, and once again fought to break eye contact
by taking the report from his fingers. “Yeah, that’s what it looks like.” Sara
had no idea what she was agreeing to at first, but had figured it out as she
forced herself to read the report and get control of herself.
“Anyway, good work on the
tub. Because of you, we have a suspect to give the detectives.” Grissom looked
down at his watch and then back up at Sara, “You know what? There’s only a
little bit of time left in this shift… Why don’t you call it a night and get
some rest.” He bent sideways and craned his neck around to get a look at the
side of her neck, “I’m still worried about that cut, and we can finish up the
paperwork before the end of shift. Besides, Catherine is still processing some
of the stuff from the scene, and we’re likely to need some fresh eyes when we
start up again tonight.” Grissom returned upright and gave her a little, half
smile, and Sara’s heart melted even further. Without any regard to what he had
just done to her Grissom walked away, leaving Sara to contemplate her
predicament.
She whispered to herself as
she headed for the locker room and her face sunk into a desolate expression,
“Nick’s right… She is making him happy.”
Chapter 25
It had been a fairly
uneventful shift at Desert Palms Hospital, but Dr. Thomas O’Halloran was still
exhausted after spending nearly twenty of his twenty four hour shift finishing
up patient charts and notes that had been neglected after the previous week’s
rotating door in the Emergency Room. When he originally found out that he had
not matched at any of the Los Angeles area hospitals, but instead had been
chosen by Desert Palms, he was seriously depressed. But, after seven months at
the Las Vegas hospital, he realized that in this environment he had made far
more advances to his learning than he did in his previous time at UCLA, and far
greater strides than his counterparts still in Los Angeles. At Desert Palms, he
was the new hot shot resident surgeon. In Los Angeles, he would have been a
number, or just another surgeon looking to make a name for himself. In Las
Vegas he was performing cardiac re-sections following substantial gunshot
wounds. In Los Angeles, he would still be operating on bowel obstructions and
performing cut downs in the Emergency Room. As much as it pained him to be
separated from the woman that he loved, he knew that he was a far greater
surgeon because of the match that he had made and chosen to follow.
Fortunately for him, his
fiancé was feeling the same pains of separation, and she was in a better
position to find another job, since she had already completed her residency.
Also in his favor was the fact that she had followed her heart and not his
advice. Upon learning of her position at the Los Angeles County Coroner’s
Office, he told her that she would be giving up too much to follow him to Las
Vegas and that she should worry more about her career than their relationship.
He felt that if their relationship was meant to survive, they could handle the
separation for the duration of his residency. And for a surgeon, that was a
foolish thing to say, since he knew full well a man cannot live without his
heart. He had wept upon seeing her face the last time he had managed to get
away for a couple of days and went to see her back in Los Angeles, and so had
she. For the two days they were together, they had not been able to be apart
from each other for even a minute. He had nearly walked into the ladies’ room
of the restaurant they dined at the second night because he was so in need of
her touch. When she took him to the airport that following morning, they both
broke down on the departure platform, and she informed him that as soon as she
had completed a full year at the coroner’s office she was going to give notice
and come to Las Vegas to find work. He half-heartedly tried to talk her out of
it, knowing that it could mean she would be giving up her dream of practicing
forensic pathology, but his heart was telling him to shut up with every word.
In the end, she told him that she would never give up her dream, but would just
have to work a little harder for it.
At the end of her full year
of employment, she gave her notice to the County Coroner, who had actually
begged her not to go, but she was resolute in her decision. She gave him six
weeks notice, and told Thomas that with or without a job, she would be in Las
Vegas in six weeks. When she called him at the end of the fourth week to give
him her flight itinerary for the one interview she had been able to acquire, he
learned that she had been asked to interview for another position as well. When
she told him who it was with, his heart jumped up into his throat, because
Thomas knew how she had dreamed of a job like that her entire life. She would
not only get the chance to continue in forensic pathology, but she would be
working side by side with one of her idols. He went straight to the hospital
chapel and said two extra sets of prayers that night. The chaplain had come in
and thought he was there worrying over a family member or a particularly bad
patient. So, when Thomas explained to him what was going on, Father Wilhem
promised to light a candle for them both when he returned to St. Anne’s that
night. Father Wilhem nearly cried in the afternoon when Thomas had asked him to
perform their marriage ceremony in less than two weeks. In the seven months
Thomas had been in Las Vegas, Father Wilhem had become his greatest friend and
he held the man’s opinion in very high regard.
Thomas had not been blessed
with the kind, loving and supportive upbringing that his fiancé had been given.
He was practically raised by the Brother’s and the Sister’s of the parochial
school he had gone to as a boy. He had never known his father and his mother
was a part-time prostitute, when she couldn’t stay straight long enough to keep
any other job. Brother Angelo was his protector on numerous occasions, and when
Social Services was set to take Thomas and his older sister into custody, it
was Brother Angelo and Mother Agnes who stepped in and offered them both a
place to board at the school. His sister had considered it a punishment most of
the time, but Thomas thought it was his greatest blessing. She was housed with
the Novitiates in the Convent wing and he with the other Monks in the Monastery
wing. He ate dinner every night with Brother Angelo and Father Gregario, and
they became his family. His sister was sixteen when they were given refuge at
the school, but when she turned seventeen, she convinced Social Services to emancipate
her, and she returned to living with their mother, but Thomas stayed with the
Monks until he left for college on a full, academic scholarship to Loyola
Marymount University, which was Father Gregario’s alma mater. Thomas was most
proud of the study bible that Father Gregario had given him when he left for
college, as it had been the Father’s when he was a student at that same
Catholic university. He still kept it in a place of honor in their home,
alongside Father Gregario’s funeral program.
When he first met Stephanie
at UCLA Medical School, he was amazed to find another student of the medical
school at mass. She claimed that she found comfort in the traditions of the
church and she felt that her family was what it was because of the gifts the church
had given them. When he learned that she felt that way because both of her
parents had been raised in Catholic orphanages, he knew he had met the woman he
wanted to spend the rest of his life with. What cinched it for him in the end,
was the fact that she was also probably the smartest woman he had ever met who
was also deeply religious, as well as possessing one of the keenest wits and
sharpest tongues he had ever witnessed. He knew he was in the presence of an
exceptional woman, and he was going to do everything in his power to be the man
she would want to spend her life with. As it turned out, he already was that
man, so there was little effort on his part. The two just seemed to click
instantly. He knew it was a done deal when he had met her parents and the famed
“Uncle Gil.” Her father and uncle were in Los Angeles for a forensics
convention of some sort and the trio had come by to meet, “this young man we’ve
been hearing so much about.” At the end of the weekend, her mother had given
him a hug and thanked him for making her daughter so happy, her father had
shook his hand and told him to study hard, and her uncle had shook his hand and
given him a silent nod. Thomas had known from Stephanie that her uncle was not
a very social man, and that if he had acknowledged him in any way, that he
could consider that an in. When the trio had left, Stephanie had been
dumbstruck, and when Thomas questioned her about it, she just said, “I’ve never
seen Uncle Gil take to someone so fast… You must be the one.” She had meant it
as a little joke, but Thomas took her at her word.
When they had traveled to San
Francisco to spend Thanksgiving with her family the next month, Thomas had come
prepared. Right after dinner, when he knew everyone would be slow to move, he
got down on one knee and proposed right then and there. Thankfully for him, she
had accepted, and they were given her parents’ blessing. He had promised her
father that he would never ask her to give up her dreams, and that he would do
everything in his power to help her achieve them. Her father thanked him for
saying so, but then he had told Thomas that he knew his daughter well enough to
know that she would make her own decisions based on her own best interest, and
he would just have to trust the both of them to understand what that meant to
everyone.
The only truly rough spot in
their relationship had come when Stephanie’s father had passed away
unexpectedly. She was upset that her father would not be able to walk her down
the aisle at her wedding, and for a short time, she had blamed Thomas for not
wanting to get married until they had completed their residencies. It did not
last long, and Thomas had remained at her side through the entire ordeal, never
letting her forget how much he loved her and that her father would always be
with them, even if he was no longer on this earth. When it was all over,
Stephanie had confided in him that it was his strength that had allowed her to
grieve in her own time, and she was deeply apologetic for having blamed him for
anything. Thomas had only assured her that it would take a lot more than a few
angry words spoken in the throes of grief to get rid of him. And when he was
sure she was ready, he told her that it would most likely take something on the
order of a tactical nuclear weapon to get rid of him at that point in their
lives. That was when he knew everything was going to be just fine, because she
responded with, “I think that can be arranged.” He so loved her dark sense of
humor, especially in tense situations.
It was with those thoughts,
and with the fatigue of his shift that he entered their home through the garage
door to find a surprise that he never would have suspected in a million years.
“Mom? How did you get here?”
“Hey, Thomas… What would you
like for breakfast this morning?” The older woman was standing on the other
side of the island in their kitchen, her white hair practically glowing from
the morning sun coming into the kitchen from the window.
Before he could try to form
an answer in his head, his fiancé came bounding into the room, “Hey, gorgeous!”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and placed a kiss on his cheek and looked
at the other tall woman in their kitchen, “Mom, you can just get him some tea
and some toast… He’s probably ready to crash by now, huh honey?”
“Coming right up.” She set to
work adding another cup to the tray she was setting up when he entered the
house, and Stephanie started leading him into the living room.
Just as he was about to ask
her where in the world her mother had come from, Thomas was greeted by another
woman in his living room, “Catherine?”
“Well, good morning to you,
too.” Catherine was sitting on the couch with a bunch of brochures and flyers
spread out on the coffee table.
“Morning…” He turned to
Stephanie with a completely confused look on his face, “Did I fall asleep at
the hospital and miss a week?”
Stephanie and Catherine
immediately started laughing out loud, “Oh honey… I’m sorry, I guess I should
have warned you, huh?” She stroked his hair a moment and then leaned her head
against his for reassurance. “Catherine is here to help with the wedding stuff…
She has some great contacts around Vegas.”
“But your mother wasn’t
supposed to be here until Friday.” His face still showed all signs of complete
confusion.
“Oh yeah, well, she caught
the first flight in to Vegas this morning, after she and I talked last night.
She wanted to help out so we weren’t overwhelmed with all the plans and work…
You don’t mind, right?” Stephanie guided him into sitting down in his
Barcalounger.
Once firmly seated, and
Stephanie’s mother had taken her seat on the couch next to Catherine with a
tray set up for tea and coffee, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well, no…
I was just a little shocked to see everyone in here, I guess.”
Stephanie sat on the arm of
his chair and cradled his head against her side a moment, “That’s okay, honey…
Take your tea from Mom, I’ll go get your toast, and then you can go to bed…
When you wake up, the world will be right side up again.”
As she got up to leave the
room, he found that his arm was being tapped and a cup of tea was waiting for
him. “Thanks, Mom.” The older woman patted his forearm, and he felt the warmth
from her hands, and he once again felt the world was back in its rightful
place. Dr. Thomas O’Halloran had a family, and he was truly happy.
Chapter 26
The younger woman sitting
opposite her in the booth was absently stirring her orange juice and staring
off into space. Catherine smiled at the far away look on the face of the auburn
haired beauty she was sharing a meal with today. She knew that Stephanie was
thinking about what the future held for her, and that was a luxury Catherine
had given up a very long time ago. Her cynicism simply did not allow her to
think more than a few weeks out at a time. Catherine Willows was a love child,
ex-stripper, bitterly divorced, single mother in Las Vegas; for her the future
did not exist in more than a few week increments. “Are you trying to get
something to dissolve in that juice, or is there something else driving you to
stir it up?”
Stephanie broke from her
thoughts and looked up at Catherine, “Huh?... Oh yeah.” She put the spoon down
and returned her attention to her eating companion, “Sorry, just thinking about
stuff.”
“That ‘stuff’ wouldn’t happen
to be around six and a half feet tall, broad shoulders, with wavy brown hair
and wearing a surgeon’s cap?” Catherine winked over the top of the coffee cup
she was holding up to her lips for a drink.
“Mostly.” Stephanie’s cheeks
came forward with a light blush at Catherine’s comment. “Also about a curly
gray haired entomologist with the bluest eyes, who’s going to have my hide when
he figures out what I’ve been up to this week.” After nearly spitting her
coffee out at the comment, Catherine realized that beverages were likely to
always be a problem around Stephanie when she was talking, and she was always
talking.
“Yeah, well, hopefully he’ll
be a little too preoccupied to bust you for it until next week.” There was a
slight pause as both women contemplated that statement, and then they both
burst out laughing at the same time.
“Why do I think that’s the
sound that should come before an air-raid siren?” Warrick walked up to their
booth and motioned for Catherine to slide over so that he could sit down, “You
two laughin’ like that can mean only one thing; you’re up to somethin’.” He
reached over and took the remaining strip of bacon off of Catherine’s discarded
plate. “Do I need to be worried?”
The look on Catherine’s face
was priceless, because it was not often that she was speechless, but before she
could swing back with a comment of her own the waitress walked up, “What can I
get you, sweetie?”
Warrick scratched his chin a moment
and then had an answer, “How about three eggs over easy, whole grain toast,
bacon and hashbrowns? Oh, also some coffee and a glass of milk please.” The
woman turned over a coffee cup and filled it up for him before walking away to
put in his order. “So, what is the Terrible Duo up to tonight?”
Stephanie was the first to
answer him, “Same thing we do every night, Pinky?” That time Catherine did spit
out her coffee, but at least this time it was back into her cup as she started
laughing.
Warrick gave them both a
puzzled look, but decided to shrug it off, since he knew that some jokes were
just not worth explaining. “Well, I checked in for a few before hittin’ this
place… Looks like it’s gonna be a slow night.”
“Won’t that be nice for a
change?” Catherine took a quick drink of her coffee when something strange hit
her, “What are you doing here so early?”
Warrick tilted his head to
the side, “That… Yeah, Tina ended up workin’ a double, and I didn’t want to
wake her, so I just left for the lab when I got up, but the stomach was talkin’
trash to me.”
“Thomas said the hospital was
a madhouse last night.” Stephanie wiped up the last of her syrup with her last
bite of pancake, “His twenty four hour shift turned into almost twenty eight,
and the poor guy was just not up to dealing with three women in his living room
this morning.” She and Catherine both chuckled at her recap.
“Three?” Warrick raised his
eyebrow at the count.
“Yeah, my Mom surprised us by
flying in this morning, after we told her about the wedding.” She plopped the
bite into her mouth as Warrick nodded at her explanation. As she finished
chewing, she looked as though a light bulb had just gone off, “Oh! Hey, can you
give me a lift home after shift? I left my car for Mom (Cath picked me up today),
and Thomas wanted to talk to you.”
Warrick worked to recover
from the request and process the information. He realized that Stephanie was
obviously a “morning” person, or that she was just always going full bore,
twenty four/seven. “Ah, yeah, I guess I could, since I gotta swing by the
hospital and pick up Tina on my way home.” Catherine gave him a questioning
look, so he explained further, “She’s dropping her car off at the shop on her
way in, and it won’t be ready until the next afternoon.”
Catherine still was not
buying it, “Something you couldn’t handle?”
“Nothin’ she wants me to
handle… She has this weird thing ‘bout me workin’ on cars.” Warrick did his
best to play it off as if it was nothing, but he could tell both women were
just humoring him.
“Sounds like fun… Well, I
would love to stay here and chat with you two a while longer, but if I don’t
get over there and check the supervisor’s board, who knows what Gil has
conveniently forgotten about.” Warrick slid out of the booth and offered Catherine
a hand to get to her feet. “Have fun, kids.”
He sat back down as they
watched her walk through the diner to the exit, Stephanie noticed that
Warrick’s glance was a little more focused than hers, and wondered what had
gone on there. She decided to store that little nugget of truth away for future
mischief making purposes.
When Warrick turned back to
her in the booth, he had a little sideways smile on his face, “So, Miss Thing,
what’re you up to tonight?”
Before she could answer, the
waitress had arrived with his food, so she waited for the woman to set the food
down and clear the extra dishware prior to responding. As the waitress walked
away, she spoke, “Well, unless something happens, I’ve got nothing going on…
David called and told me to take my time, because we were clear tonight, and
he’d page me if, or when there was a call.”
Warrick chuckled as he shoved
the first bite of food into his mouth. Stephanie turned and stretched her legs
out on the booth to get more comfortable. “So, what does Thomas want?”
“Oh, I have no idea… He just
wanted me to make sure I told you to swing by and talk to him in the morning.”
She chuckled as she thought of something, “We’ve been together for like seven
years, but I still have no idea what’s going on in that brain of his
sometimes.”
“You don’t sound too unhappy
‘bout that.” Warrick asked between bites.
“Are you kidding? It keeps
things interesting!” They both had to laugh at that thought. “Besides, my folks
were married a long time, and even though Mom had an inkling of an idea about
how Pop worked, he still managed to surprise her every day.”
Warrick had a contented smirk
on his face, “Sounds like they had it down.”
“Oh yeah, but not without
sacrifice… I mean, Pop was a fairly confirmed bachelor when he met my mother.
He was pushing fifty or so and Mom was in her early thirties. Neither one
thought they’d ever meet someone that could put up with them.” She chuckled
again, “I’ve always wondered what would make them think that, since they were
always the coolest parents to me. Of course, as I’ve gotten older I can now see
how they may have been a little odd for their time.”
Warrick looked confused,
“When did they have you then?”
“Oh, well, Pop was fifty
three and Mom was-… She was thirty five.
I was something of a surprise for both of them.” Stephanie had a good
laugh from her revelation.
“Oh yeah? You were one of
those pranks the stork likes to play?” Warrick chuckled as he kept eating.
“You have no idea! Mom wasn’t
supposed to be able to, which was one of the reasons she hadn’t married
younger, and Pop had a vasectomy some time in the seventies. They used to refer
to me as their little needle in the haystack.” That was too much for Warrick,
and he nearly choked on his breakfast as he attempted to laugh.
“I guess that’s one way to
put it.” Warrick shook his head and tried to dislodge the food from his larynx
and continue breathing.
“They’re mostly responsible
for my sense of humor… Gil just helped me refine it.” She winked at him and he
chuckled again.
Stephanie was quiet for a
little while, and Warrick took it as an opportunity to finish his meal without
spewing it across the diner. When he was nearly done, she spoke again, “So,
what should I do about Sara? I mean, I thought we had cleared the air last
weekend, but I haven’t really seen her this week so far. In fact, if Gil hadn’t
called me to look at that cut on her neck, I wouldn’t have seen her at all.”
Warrick could actually sense
the pain those words had caused Stephanie, and he knew that she truly felt hurt
by Sara’s lack of social graces. “Look, all I can tell you is Sara is a tough
nut to crack… She doesn’t warm up to people right away, and sometimes, her
shyness, comes off as kind of, well-…”
“Bitchy?”
He chuckled and nodded his
head, “Exactly! How’d you get to be so good at reading people?”
“That would be Pop… He made
his career on being able to read people.” She turned around in the seat to face
him again, “He found me reading a book about understanding body language one
time, and he told me that I would never truly learn that skill if I didn’t
observe people in every conceivable situation. He said that it wasn’t about
whether they looked left or right, but what was in their hearts and behind
those eyes that mattered. And he also said that it wasn’t something you could
learn; it was an instinct. Told me to study hard, learn as much as was possible
and to use that knowledge to know when to trust my instincts. If all the books
in the world say that the guy is lying, but your gut says to look deeper, then
you owe it to yourself and that guy to do just that.” She sat back a little and
a huge grin spread across her face, “I figure the man with the highest closure
rate in the history of the SFPD might just have a point there.”
Warrick shook his head,
“Can’t argue with that.” Warrick thought a little about her original question
and added, “And with Sara, you gotta remember that she has some issues with
Autopsy, ever since she became a vegetarian, so don’t take it personal.”
Stephanie thought about what
he had said for a few moments before something struck her as odd, “Then how
does she do her job at the scene?”
“Sorry, her issue with
Autopsy, is that it reminds her of the meat packing places she’s seen. And with
you in there carvin’ ‘em up, you can’t really blame the girl.” It was Warrick’s
turn to make the joke and Stephanie’s turn to nearly lose the drink of coffee
she had just taken before joining him in laughter.
“Well, that’s just another
reason to get them together Friday night; so I can get to know her out of the
lab. From everything I’ve heard, she sounds like someone I’d have a lot in
common with, and that’s not so common for me.” Stephanie winked at Warrick with
her jab at herself.
However, Warrick was ready to
have the last word this time around, “You ain’t got to tell me. And I thank God
for that fact every day.”
Chapter 27
A slow night in the crime lab
was the last thing Sara Sidle was looking for tonight. She needed to be busy,
and she needed to be busy really badly. Time to think was not what she wanted
tonight. She wanted to do what she always did; numb her mind with the
meticulous and overwhelming tasks of working a crime scene. Instead, she had
already finished six reports and was desperately attempting to read a journal
article without much success. Her mind kept wandering back to the night before,
and the sensations of Grissom’s hands and breath on her neck; the sound of his
voice and breath so close to her ear; and the look in those rich blue pools
that were his eyes. Her heart was breaking with every replay of that scene in
the Processing Room, but her mind refused to cease its attempt at making sense
of the whole thing. She knew it was a pointless exercise, but it would simply
not stop. And just when she thought her night could not possibly get any worse;
everyone descended on the Break Room.
“C’mon, Bro… You can’t
possibly expect me to believe that line of bull yer tryin’ to spread?” Nick had
been in rare form all night, and his entrance proved that nothing had changed.
“I mean really, there ain’t no way you can pull that off, I don’t care how
smooth you think you are, ‘Rick.”
Warrick follwed closely
behind him, with his arms up in a display of surrender, “Hey, it wasn’t me… The
honey started the whole thing, but I’ve got the ring, Bro, so it was all hands
off.” Warrick went to sit down at the table and noticed Sara sitting off to the
side in the corner, “Hey Sar.”
Next in the door was Greg,
and he was not buying Warrick’s story, “Oh man, you’re honestly telling us you
didn’t even sample goods, Warrick?” Greg also noticed Sara in the corner, but
chose to only nod his head at her to show that he had seen her.
“Not even a sniff, man… You
have met my wife, right?” All three of the boys were laughing at Warrick’s
intimation of his wife’s possible wrath when Catherine came in the door behind
them.
“Hey, have you guys seen
Sar-…” Her gaze fell upon Sara in the corner, “There you are! I was looking
everywhere for you.” Catherine said as her hands went straight for her hips.
Nick was unable to control
himself and had to comment, “You must’ve missed a spot.”
Catherine was just about to
respond to his comment when Grissom appeared in the doorway, his arms
overloaded with a large steaming box of containers, “Food’s here!” They all
cleared a path for him to rest the box down on the table. “Since it was a slow
night, after such a hectic couple of weeks, Cath and I thought it might be good
if we treated you guys to lunch.” Grissom started to unload the cartons, each
with a name on it, and the others began to greedily snatch up their respective
prizes. Grissom looked around at the table and then looked up in confusion,
“Where’s Sara?” When he turned his gaze a little he found her still hiding out
in the corner, “There you are…” He started over to her with two containers in
his hands, “I wasn’t sure if you’d want Egg Foo Yung or Kung Pao, so I figured
I’d take whichever you didn’t want.” The smile on his face was genuine and it
made Sara forget her pain, if only for a moment.
He stood in front on her with
the containers, waiting for her to make her decision. Sara contemplated
excusing herself and saying that she was not hungry, but she knew that would
not go over well with everyone else, and would just lead to more questions, so
she decided to bite the bullet and share a meal with her co-workers. She
reached for the Kung Pao and took it from Grissom’s grasp. When she did, their
fingers grazed each other momentarily, and the feeling was positively electric,
but Sara had to struggle not to pull away too quickly so as not to draw
attention to the moment. She tried to smile, but it came out as weak (almost
trembling), and Grissom tilted his head with a puzzled expression on his face.
Sara could tell he was about to say something, so she leaned forward in her
chair to quickly move to the table and reached for some chopsticks from between
Nick and Greg, and then she took the seat between Greg and Warrick. She was
safely away from Grissom’s proximity; for the moment.
Sara watched Grissom return
to the front of the table from the corner of her eye, and was infinitely
grateful that he had chosen to let the moment between them drop. When her
sideways glance made the full circuit of the table as he sat down, Sara was
almost certain that she saw Catherine observing her look. She was obviously
being paranoid, because when Catherine spoke, she seemed oblivious to the
moment, “So, you guys better not get used to this kind of thing… Not unless the
pay gets a whole lot better around here.” They all laughed at her candor as
they dug into the food.
Greg kept looking over the
table and into the box sitting beside Grissom, where he saw four more
containers. Finally, his curiosity got the better of him, “Hey Boss… What’re
those other cartons for?”
Grissom looked up from his
Egg Foo Yung, then into the box, and then over at Greg. “You think we do this
all by ourselves, Greg?” His answer was cryptic, as usual.
Before Greg could think of a
properly sarcastic remark, part of his answer had arrived, “Nice page, Gris.”
Detective Sofia Curtis came sauntering into the Break Room. “’Food… Now.’
Terribly effective.” She was smiling before she dipped her head into the box to
find her food. Once she had recovered the container with her name on it, she
took the seat closest to Grissom. Sara realized that either Sofia had not heard
the news, or was trying her best to ignore it.
“That’s because my man is one
of few words, Sofia.” Jim Brass came through the door right after the female
detective, “Unless, of course, he is quoting some Shakespeare or an obscure
piece of classical literature to make us all look like a bunch of schmoes.
Right, Gil?” Brass patted his friend Grissom on the back as he was making his
joke.
Grissom nodded his head,
“Touché, my friend. Touché.”
Greg watched as the two
detectives got their food and sat down at the table to eat, but he also
realized there were two more containers. He opened his mouth to make another
comment when David Phillips cautiously came to the doorway of the Break Room.
Grissom, sensing there was
someone behind him, turned around in his seat, “Oh David… Come on in and have a
seat.” David entered, still a little trepidatious about entering the CSI
stomping grounds. Grissom reached into the box and pulled out the carton marked
with the younger man’s name, “Here you are… Chicken Lo Mein, right?”
“Ah, yeah, right.” David took
the container from Grissom and then stole a quick look around the table.
Nick motioned for David to
head around on his side of the table, “Got a seat right here for ya, Super
Dave.” David nodded his head and moved quickly to retrieve his seat and avoid
any more attention.
Sofia, having settled herself
decided to strike up some conversation with Grissom, “So, Gil, what made you
decide to do this?”
Grissom turned to her with a
raised eye brow, but before he could say anything, the answer to the question
came from another voice behind him, “Someone must have finally knocked some
sense into him.” Stephanie entered the room with her typically confident stride
and stood directly behind Grissom’s back as everyone called out their hello’s.
She looked around the table to size up the situation, “Well, it looks like the
gang’s all here.” Sara noticed that she was still looking around and had made
no attempt to sit down.
She realized, at apparently
the same time as Grissom, that there were no other chairs. Grissom wiped off
his mouth and quickly stood up. “We seem to be short a chair.” When he stood
up, he placed a hand upon her forearm, and Sara found herself desperately
wishing that it had been her, “Why don’t you take mine and I’ll go grab another
from the next room.”
Stephanie bowed her head
slightly in a mock gesture of gentility, “Why thank you, kind sir.” When the
young red-head went to sit in the chair just vacated by Grissom, Sara noticed
that she slid the chair to the side a bit, which placed her strategically
between Sofia and Grissom. As much as Sara wanted to not like Stephanie, she
had to admit that she was a sharp, intelligent and ballsy woman; everything
that Grissom found attractive and she admired in others. Without waiting for
any formalities, Stephanie took the initiative, “So, what are the current odds
on Nick getting another date in this lifetime?” Several people around the room
nearly spit out their food and Nick leaned back in his chair, his face flushed
from top to bottom.
“You guys aren’t really
runnin’ that bet, again?” His response got even more laughs from the
assemblage. “Man, don’t you guys have nothin’ better to do with yer time?”
Stephanie chuckled as she
reached for the final container, “Aw, sorry, Nick, but I just learned about
this pool and I wanted in on the action. Besides, I’ve already witnessed your
approach, and I think they might be overestimating your ability.” She winked at
him with her statement, and even Sara was having a hard time not laughing at
his predicament.
Thankfully for Nick, Grissom
re-entered the room with another chair, “Would you guys please leave Nick
alone.” There was a hint of mischief in his eyes, but when he spoke again there
was no need for a hint, “Besides, his track record is pathetic enough, without
you folks reminding him of it constantly. Isn’t that right, Whistle Boy?” Nick
was cringing badly at Grissom’s reminder of his incident in the morgue two
weeks ago.
“You know about that, too?”
Nick was visibly worried about that revelation.
“Departmental email.”
Catherine just had to add her own touch to the baiting, and the room was
reduced to a howl in honor of her perfect retort.
Sara looked up from her food
and glanced around the room. Gathered together in one place was her entire
world: all of her friends and cohorts; all of her hopes and dreams; all of her
pain and heartache; all of her professional and personal aspirations. She
quickly had to look back down into her food container because of the tears that
were threatening to break forth. When she reached for a napkin, she realized
that someone had been paying attention to her bout of reverie, “Sara?”
Grissom’s voice both
delighted and deflated her, but she knew she had to come up with something fast
to change the focus, “S’okay, I just bit into a pepper.” The room let loose
with a chorus of “oh’s” and Brass grabbed a bottled water from the refrigerator
and passed it down the line to her.
So, this is my life now; terrible pain and little
joys. Way to go, Sidle.
Chapter 28
Another night, another crime
scene: that seemed to be Sara’s life story. She did not know when her life had
become this intertwined mass of case after case with nothing else to keep her
warm at night outside of the satisfaction of closing a case. She just knew that
without her hope for a relationship with Grissom, she was not sure why she
still felt a need to stay in Las Vegas. In many ways, she had given up her hope
a long time ago, long before Stephanie MacInnerney showed up, but until that
day, she had always kept that little flame alive somewhere in the back of her
mind. Seeing Grissom with Stephanie, and knowing how much happier he had become
since her arrival should have snuffed that little flame right out. However,
Sara distinctly felt like the flame had been fanned into a pyre. She guessed
that her heart was just as masochistic as the rest of her, because it would
appear that the flame was working to burn out anything and everything that had
ever been touched by Gil Grissom. The trouble was, that was everything Sara
held dear, and with his recent behavior she had come to care for him even more.
Sara wondered if Grissom had
any idea what his kindnesses were doing to her everyday, but she then
remembered that even Grissom could not be changed that much. He was still the
socially and emotionally oblivious man he had always been; that was likely to
never change. Sara knew that he was just expressing himself the only way he
could, and he would never be able to see that she wanted so much more from him.
For that, she was actually glad, because she did truly care for the man, and if
being with Stephanie was making him happy, she could not deny him that bliss.
If Sara was honest with
herself, she would also admit that Stephanie was probably the perfect person
for Grissom. She matched or exceeded the man in every aspect, and it appeared
to give them an amazing amount of comfort with each other that Sara had never
seen in Grissom. Even with Catherine, Grissom was never so free with his words
or deeds, and she was quite certain Catherine was probably his best friend; her
and Brass.
Sara knew that everyone was
pleased with the new coroner, and even she had discovered that she was a
talented and easily likeable young woman. Young
woman. Sara repeated that phrase over and over in her mind, and the reason
behind it made her want to cry. Sara had always assumed Grissom had problems
with their age difference and that it was one of the primary reasons for him
not wanting to start a relationship with her. That little illusion had been
wiped away when Sara learned how old Stephanie was from Greg. Sara had more
than a few years on the doctor, so obviously Grissom was not bothered by an age
difference.
No, Sara was quickly coming
to the conclusion that Grissom was going to be much better off without ever
delving into a relationship with her. They were both slightly broken people,
and it was becoming painfully obvious to Sara that he had found someone to heal
his soul. That led her to the equally obvious conclusion that she had not found
that person yet. She still needed someone to fix her.
Thankfully, before she had
anymore time to go further down those roads of thought, she felt a buzzing in
her ears. As she returned her focus to the outside world, she found Nick
standing beside her trying to get her attention, “Earth to Sara… Come in Sara.”
When he saw that her eyes had returned to focus, he let out a small laugh,
“Nice to have ya back with us, Sar. Where in the world were you at, girl?”
Nick’s smile was the first
thing Sara focused on, and it threw her off for a moment, “Huh? Oh yeah, sorry
about that… What did you need?” She struggled to bring her mind out of the fog
of introspection as she spoke.
Nick gave her the concerned
brother look and put a hand on her shoulder, “Are you sure yer okay?”
Sara smiled at him. She knew
that Nick cared about her well-being, and she appreciated his attention, but
she was not ready to talk about everything just yet, “I will be. Can that be
enough for now?”
“For now.” Nick was content
with her answer, but he wanted to add one last proviso, “As long as you tell me
when it’s not workin’… Deal?”
“Deal.” She knew that no
matter what, if she needed him, Nick would be there for her; he was just that
kind of guy. He simply knew no other way to be a friend. “Now, what do we have
left here?”
Nick looked around the room
briefly, “Well, you got all the prints, and I got everything that could have
been used as the murder weapon and scanned the area for other trace evidence.
Sooooooo… I think that just about does it.” Sara joined him in looking around
the room once more and nodded her head, “Awright, I’ll pack this stuff up and
take it out to the car, if you wanna release the scene to PD?”
She nodded once more, “Sounds
like a plan… Meet you back at the car.” She headed out to speak to the officers
on duty at the door as Nick started putting everything into evidence boxes.
When she stole one more look back at the diligent man, she realized why she was
staying in Las Vegas. It may not be a conventional family, but the people she
had found here had become her family. And as dysfunctional as they might appear
to be on the surface, they were the most functional family Sara Sidle had ever
been a part of in her lifetime. All that was left to do was to find some kind
of closure to her other problem and life could be good for her. Trouble was,
she still was not sure she even wanted that closure; not just yet.
Chapter 29
She had been hoping for a
nice quiet ride back to the lab, but Sara’s first mistake was in letting Nick
drive. The second was in letting him chose the radio station. She had already
been treated to his interpretation of “Ole Lonesome Me” and a particularly
obnoxious version of “Stand By Your Man.” It was just her luck that he had
found a classic country radio program playing at that moment. Her only hope now
was to try and convince him to find something, anything else to listen to for
their ride.
“Nick, please turn the
station, man… You’re killing me with that twang.” Sara pleaded to him through a
pained and pouty expression.
Nick laughed at her attempt
to persuade him with her feminine whiles, “That stuff don’t work on me, Sar.”
They were still playing commercials on the radio, so he figured he had a little
more time, “Tell ya what… You give me one more song, and I’ll change it to
something else, deal?”
“Thank you!” Sara agreed
quickly, because at this rate, she would be ready to get her own pickup truck
and a hound dog in no time flat.
When the last commercial
faded out, she was counting the seconds until she was finally rid of the
hillbilly music that Nick seemed to be so fond of. When the song began to play,
she realized she had gotten her hopes up too soon.
Crazy I'm crazy for feelin' so lonely.
I'm crazy, crazy for feelin' so blue.
It could have been any song, so why did it have to be this
one, she thought. Sara was not sure
why whatever god there was had become so mad at her, but she needed to figure
out what it was and fix it fast.
I knew you'd love me as long as you
wanted
and then some day you'd leave me for somebody new.
The last thing I need is to hear these damned lyrics. She did not understand why Nick could not see how much
this song was hurting her at that moment, but he was too busy paying attention
to the road.
Worry,
why do I let myself worry
wondering what in the world did I do.
Oh my god! If I wasn’t crazy before, now it’s
confirmed. Sara was getting
dangerously close to losing her control. This song hit way to close to home for
her comfort.
Crazy
for thinking that my love could hold you.
I'm crazy for trying
and crazy for crying
and I'm crazy for loving you.
Just when Sara thought she
was going to shatter into a million pieces, the radio was suddenly turned to
another station. “I can’t listen to that song sober… Depresses me too bad.”
Sara struggled to pull
herself together long enough to turn away from the window and talk to Nick. She
knew that if she remained silent for too long, he would grow concerned. She
steeled herself to looking in his direction and as she turned she spoke, “And
what does it do for you when you’re drunk?”
“Oh Sara, you ain’t heard singin’ ‘til you catch me wailin’ away on a few too
many.” As much as Sara felt like she was about to fall apart, Nick was always
able to find a way to make her laugh, and so she did. “Finally!”
When she was able to stop
laughing she had to ask, “Finally, what?”
Nick shook his head before
answering, “I been waitin’ all shift for my friend Sara to show up. Where’s she
been tonight? Or for that matter all week?”
She took a deep breath,
because she knew this had been building up for a while, “I’ve just been a
little out of it, I guess. Nothing that won’t pass, Nicky. I swear.”
Nick reached across the car
and laid a hand on her forearm, “Well, you know I’m here for you, right? I
mean, I know I ain’t been the best person to lean on lately, but I’m there if
you need me, Sar.” The concern in his voice was obvious and Sara had to admit
that she loved him all the more for it.
“I know, Nick… And if I
thought it would help, you’d be the first… Honest.” She looked directly at him
as she spoke, to make sure he knew that she was being totally honest with him.
Nick had been there for her more times than she could even begin to count. And
although her friendship with Warrick was just as real, Nick seemed to have this
amazing timing when it came to being a knight in shining armor sometimes. Sara
may have been lacking in a protective family when she was growing up, but she
now had it in spades. She knew without a doubt that these men would step in
front a train to save her (even when that train was actually Sara, herself).
When he returned his focus to
the road, Nick was satisfied that Sara would be fine. He had been sensing for
some time that she was working through her problems with Grissom, but he had
also been caught up in his own problems a lot as of late and he worried that
maybe he had been lacking in his duties as a true friend. Unlike Nick, Sara did
not have another family to fall back on when she was in need, and he felt an
obligation to be that family for her. Nick felt blessed to have come from such
an amazing family, but when people like Sara came into his life he almost felt
guilty for how good he had it growing up. In his guilt, he did everything he
could to make sure those people knew how much they meant to him, and with Sara
it went double. Even when they were competing with each other for that
promotion, he still felt that way about her. He knew it was not infatuation, or
any kind of romantic interest, because he had never felt that way about her,
but he knew that he would always be there if she needed him. Besides, Nick knew
that Sara carried a serious torch for Grissom, and most everyone else had
figured it out a long time ago. In fact, it was one of the few things that Nick
had any animosity towards Grissom about; his inability to see her affection for
him or, if he did see, that he had never had the guts to do anything about it.
Nick and everyone else on their team knew that Grissom had feelings for Sara
that went way over to another level than that of the rest of his team. It was
just that he was either too afraid or too stubborn to do anything about it. For
that, Nick felt very sorry for the both of them.
That made the last few weeks
somewhat ironic for Nick. While it seemed that Sara was cleansing herself of
the last vestiges of her attraction to Grissom, he actually appeared to be
making a real effort to connect with her on another level. He decided that it
really was true; timing was everything. And
this time, Grissom’s timing was way off.
That thought stayed with Nick
for the rest of their long drive from Boulder City back to the lab. They were
not silent for the journey, but the rest of their conversations definitely
bordered on small talk and dealt mostly with the scene they had processed that
night, and that seemed to suit them both just fine. Everything that needed to
be said had already passed between them, and they both understood that. Nick
only wished that he could do something to help her through this rough patch,
but he also knew from experience that sometimes a person just needed to do it
on their own.
Chapter 30
The reception area was as
busy as usual, with officers, and techs and witnesses and suspects, and
visitors flowing in and out of the area at totally random intervals. The only
thing that seemed uncharacteristically out of place was the sedate and classy
looking older woman sitting patiently in the chairs. She had her silver hair
pulled back from her face with a large, but simple leather barrette behind her
head. A stray curl had fallen from it and framed her delicate features nicely.
She was paying no attention to the sea of people ebbing and flowing around her,
but instead she was focused on the book in her lap. The only indication that
she was animated at all was the occasional reach up to reposition the half
glasses resting on her nose as they gradually slid down to the edge. She was
completely at peace in her book and did not notice the arrival of anyone else
to the reception area.
As Grissom was checking his
final messages at the front desk, he looked up from the slips of paper
momentarily and made a slight glance towards the chairs. He removed the glasses
from his face when he had the faintest notion that he had recognized someone
over there, so he took a better look. Upon finding the suspect person, a sly
grin began to form on the left side of his mouth. He thanked the receptionist
and put his messages with the folder he had been carrying, and began walking
over to the chairs to greet the mysterious arrival.
He was standing directly in
front of her, but the woman did not appear to notice his presence at all, so he
decided to make it known to her. “Elizabeth?”
The woman had made not a
sound or a move until she had reached the end of her page. She then placed her
bookmark gently between the pages, closed the book, removed her glasses and
looked up. “I was wondering if you were just going to stand there like a ghost,
Gil.” The older woman smiled and it lit up her face, taking twenty years away
from her.
That time Grissom did not
hold back and smiled fully, “Elizabeth, I had no idea you were in town. When
did you get in?”
After putting her book away
in her bag, she pulled the strap onto her shoulder and stood up. Grissom was
quick to offer his arm for her to steady herself on and she smiled at his
gentility. “Ever the gentleman, Gil?” He demurred at her question and she
smiled as she took his arm. “Unlike some of your traits, it is a comfort to
learn it hasn’t changed.”
Grissom nodded his head and
then asked, “Are you avoiding my question, Beth?”
She smiled and then answered,
“Avoiding, no. Just stalling.” Her response puzzled Grissom, but he decided to
take her at her word and they began to walk towards the reception desk.
When they reached the desk ,
Grissom got the attention of the young woman behind the desk, “Ah Cindy.”
She turned to find Grissom
standing in front of her with an older, but still attractive woman on his arm.
“Yes, Dr. Grissom.”
“Can I get a visitor’s badge
for Dr. MacInnerney, please?” He smiled at Elizabeth when he spoke.
The receptionist’s face was a
testament to her state of confusion, “But, I don’t understand. I thought she
was down-.”
“No, this would be Dr. Elizabeth MacInnerney.”
The girl’s face immediately
registered her error and she turned to the small printing machine behind her,
“OH! Well, then just a sec…” She typed on the keyboard of the machine for a
moment and then it kicked into high gear with a whirring sound. Soon, it was
spitting out a small visitor’s badge. “Here you are; one visitor’s badge.” She
smiled broadly and handed the badge and a clip to Grissom.
Elizabeth took the badge from
him and attached it to her lapel. Grissom turned back to the receptionist,
“When Dr. MacInnerney comes out, would you please direct her to my office,
Cindy?”
“Sure thing, Dr. Grissom.”
The two then walked through
the doors to the lab and made their way down the hallway. “Seems there are a few people here who
respect you, Gil,”
He shrugged her off, “They’re
still new.” They both chuckled at his joke. “Are you planning to stall the
question forever, or is there a specific point of reference I should be aware
of, Beth?”
She gave him an enigmatic
smile, “No great secret… I came out early when I learned of Stephanie’s plan to
speed up the wedding.” Grissom nodded his understanding on they walked, “I
thought she would need the help, since she is not much for planning big
parties. However, I was unaware of the existence of her newest conspirator.”
Grissom cocked his eyebrow,
“Conspirator? You must mean Catherine… And what exactly are they conspiring
about?”
Elizabeth laughed as his
suspicion, “Oh, you know Stephie, she keeps those cards very close to her vest.
I just know that Catherine has done quite a bit of work helping to get this
wedding to happen properly.” Grissom nodded again and was content with her
explanation.
Elizabeth kept her hand
looped into the crook of his arm for the duration of their journey. Gil had
always been a gentleman, and she hated to admit it, but his traditional ways
were something she had always admired. That was quite an admission for a woman
who came up as a single, professional woman during the sixties and seventies.
She had fought for everything she had gained, and her reward came from the life
it had provided to her daughter and every other girl of that generation. None
of them knew of a world where sexual discrimination was something that was not
merely tolerated, but that could now be considered a punishable offense.
However, as much as she valued her freedom, Elizabeth MacInnerney also
treasured her femininity, and as such, she had spent a lifetime treading a very
fine line. What she admired in Gil most was his intimate understanding of that
fine line, and he seemed to always be surrounded by strong women who were just
as in touch with their feminine side. She imagined that his mother (yet another
strong woman) had a great deal to do with that aspect of his personality. “So,
do you enjoy working in such a modern facility, Gil?” She said as she looked
around as they walked.
“I enjoy the work, and the
technology does aide that work. However, I have to admit that the stark lines
can sometimes give the whole place a very overwhelming effect. And I’m not
terribly fond of the lighting most of the time.” Elizabeth had noticed that it
appeared quite dark most of the time, though she imagined it was due in part to
the work they were doing. But looking around, she could understand why
Stephanie had described her godfather as being desperately out of touch with
the state of his life. Elizabeth realized that Gil had done what he always did;
lost himself in his own mind with his work as the primary distraction. And
though she was not happy about Stephanie being so far away, she was glad that
she was near Gil, where he could be there for her if she needed someone, and
where she could be there to remind him of his own humanity. Stephanie had been
that force in the lives of Elizabeth and her husband, and when Gil was in San
Francisco, she had seen that same light in his eyes as well. She was simply one
of those people that reminded you, merely with her presence that life was worth
living.
Elizabeth was about to make a
remark to Grissom when another voice intruded on their polite conversation,
“Dr. Mac? Is that really you?” The voice belonged to Greg Sanders as he hung
his whole body out of the Layout Room as the two had passed him.
“Gregory, I see your
affection for hair gel has not worn off.” She instantly recognized her former
student. Elizabeth was quite certain the boy had a negative sense of fashion,
and seeing him again only confirmed that it had not been a passing phase.
“Wow! I can’t believe you
remembered me. It’s great to see you, Dr. Mac. I almost couldn’t believe it
when Wendi told me your daughter was our new coroner.” Greg took the hand she
had offered him and held it gently, instead of shaking it, “Man, she is some
piece of work, ya know. Of course you know, she’s your daughter. I mean, she’s
fantastic. We’ve all been really glad to have her aboard.” Greg was talking a
mile a minute, which wasn’t unusual, but he did seem somewhat nervous to be in
the presence of this woman.
“Thank you, I’ll be sure to
let her know that she is appreciated. What are you doing with yourself,
Gregory?” Grissom made notice that she was using his full name, and he stored
that away to ask about later.
“Well, I used to work in DNA
as a tech, but I was looking for something meatier, so I finally convinced
Grissom to let me become a CSI, so that’s what I’m doing. I’m only a CSI-1
right now, but I’m getting the hang of things now and I’m really liking the
full spectrum of the job. And I really should thank you.” Greg was still
rambling on, but when he paused, Elizabeth replayed the last phrase in her mind
to find the appropriate response.
“Why is that, Gregory?”
“Well, to be honest… It was
you and Inspector Mac that first gave me the idea I could do this stuff. Those
lectures he’d give about applying science to criminology; I went every year.
You gave me the knowledge I needed to get into DNA when I went to grad school
and all, and the way you made us write analysis in the lab. Between the both of
you, you got me here, eventually.” He finally drew a breath again, “Thank you.
I just wanted to take the opportunity to say that.”
Elizabeth bowed her head and
laid her other hand over the top of the one he was holding, “You are very
welcome, Gregory, and I am certain that my husband would have been pleased to
know that those lectures were not wasted. But, you should also thank your
supervisor here… He was the inspiration behind my husband giving those
lectures.” She looked over at Gil who was attempting to appear smaller in that
moment.
“Seriously? Wow, that’s
awesome, Grissom. So, that means you worked with Inspector Mac? Color me
impressed.” Grissom gave Greg a dissenting raise of his eyebrow and Greg’s tone
immediately changed, “Well, you know what I mean… But I guess I should get back
to work and leave you to it, huh?” Greg actually had shrunk in those brief
moments.
“Smartest thing I’ve heard
you say in the last few minutes.” And with that Grissom and Elizabeth watched
Greg disappear in to the room he had come from. “Sorry about that… He’s a
little excitable.”
Elizabeth simply shook her
head, “Always was, I’m afraid… Looks like his fashion sense wasn’t the only
thing he hasn’t outgrown yet.” Grissom chuckled a bit and gestured for the two
of them to continue their walk to his office.
“So, I noticed you called him
Gregory… Why is that?” Grissom was certainly curious to hear her explanation.
“Oh, well… He was a bit
younger than the other students, and that face, believe it or not, looked even
younger then. Anyway, I told him that I would not use a nickname for him
because he needed all the help he could get in gaining respect. Until he could grow
up and look like an adult, he was at least going to have an adult moniker.”
When he looked over at her expression, Grissom was unable to completely contain
the laughter that hit him with her statement.
“By that standard, he’ll be
collecting Social Security long before you’d call him Greg?”
His raised eyebrow
punctuating that question was all Elizabeth needed before she too was laughing
at the humor of the whole thing. “Indeed.”
When she entered his office,
she was not at all surprised or shocked by the walls lined with his various
specimens and experiments. After all, she had seen his apartment when he lived
in San Francisco. She was just relieved that he had chosen to keep these things
at his office instead of his home now.
He pulled out one of the
chairs in front of his desk and offered it to her, “Is there anything I can get
you while we wait for that daughter of yours?”
“No, I’m quite fine.” She
gestured around the room as he took the chair opposite her in front of his
desk, “I see you finally moved these out of your home, and I must say it is a
far more fitting place for them.” Her eye glanced the walls with a bit more
precision now, “But whatever did you do with the rest of your insect collection?
I cannot even fathom your giving up that magnificent butterfly collection
you’ve amassed.”
He shook his head and
chuckled, but before he could answer, he found that there was someone leaning
over him with her arms wrapped around him, “Are you kidding, Mom? He’s still
got those over at his place. And he easily has twice as many as when he left
the Bay Area.” Stephanie craned her head around to look him in the eye, “Isn’t
that right?” Gil nodded his head and she kissed him on the cheek before she
stood up to give her mother the same treatment. “So what’s the big idea of
stealing my mother away to the freak show? The poor woman is about to have
breakfast and you bring her in here to spoil her appetite.” She winked at both
of them before plopping down on the edge of Gil’s desk, positioned equally
between them.
“Stephie, I lived with your
father’s crime scene photos at the breakfast table for far too many years to
lose my appetite over a bunch of specimens and experiments.”
“She’s got a point,”
Stephanie winked at Gil again. “So, what say you join us for breakfast, Gil?
I’m sure Mom would enjoy catching up with you, seeing as I KNOW you haven’t seen her
since the funeral.” Stephanie was full of energy, as usual, even for this late
in the day for them.
“Well, I may not have seen your mother, but we talk at least
once a month. Like clockwork.” Gil gave her his famous glare before continuing
after she had given him a gesture of acquiescence. “However, I would be
delighted to join you ladies for breakfast.”
“Sweet! Then let’s go!”
Stephanie jumped to her feet, and held her hand out to assist her mother in
rising from her seat.
Grissom led them out the
door, closed and locked it, before offering his arm to both women for their
journey through the hallways of the lab.
When she thought she heard
Grissom walking by, Sara Sidle leaned her head out of the Processing Room to
ask him a question when she was greeted with the site of Grissom walking arm
and arm with Stephanie and an older woman as they were headed down the hallway.
She would have continued to watch the display if Greg had not nearly taken her
head off as he rushed through the hall. “Whoa! Sorry Sar. You okay?”
“Yeah, fine.”
She was about to return to
her task, when Greg spoke again as he noticed her watching Grissom leave. “Talk
about a small world, huh?”
Sara was not sure what he was
talking about, “What do you mean?”
“Oh Stephanie’s Mom… She was
my professor at Stanford… Wendi, too.” Greg turned and was about to continue
his path when Sara spoke again.
“That was her mother?”
“Yeah, Stephanie said she was
in town to help plan something and was meeting her for breakfast.” Greg was
laughing at something he remembered, “Told me she was gonna get Grissom for
stealing her from reception before she could get there.” Greg walked away
shaking his head and chuckling.
Sara returned to finishing up
her work for the night, her shoulders visibly lower and the air in the room had
grown decidedly stagnant.
Chapter 31
Grissom enjoyed his little
drive to work every night. It provided him his last bit of peace before
entering the chaos of the crime lab and the madness of the world that created
crime scenes for him to investigate. It gave him some time to reflect on
things. Most of the time he thought about the night before, and what had
happened that still needed his attention that night. He would replay certain
scenes from the activities of the night before to see what he remembered. These
were his mental exercises; his way of determining his fitness to perform. It
was a worry that had always been with him.
Grissom had an amazing
attention span, but the problem was that it came at the expense of everything
else around him. There had been more times than he cared to recall where he
would even forget to do things like eat. During his life, there had been three
women to look after him when he had gone over the edge enough to forget life’s
basic necessities. The first was his mother, and she had faithfully looked
after him throughout his childhood, sometimes even to her own detriment, just
to be certain he was eating and safe. In fact, she would still take on that
task if she were closer or in better health. The second had been the wife of
his best friend in San Francisco; Dr. Elizabeth MacInnerney. Elizabeth was
constantly sending her husband off to work with two lunches, because she was
just certain he had forgotten to bring anything for himself. She had insisted
that Gil have dinner with their family every Sunday, just so she could be sure
that he was eating at least one good meal a week. Elizabeth and her husband Mac
had been his mentors as well as his very good friends. They had become his
family, and they had given him a gift without even knowing it. In the trust of
their only child, Gil Grissom had found his heart, and she had kept it safe for
him all those years. The last woman to care for him had been an unlikely
choice; Catherine Willows. Catherine had become his best friend shortly after
his arrival in Las Vegas, and she took that job seriously. She had given him
“what for” on more occasions than Gil cared to remember sometimes, but in every
instance, whether he wanted it or not, she had been right in doing so.
Catherine may not have had the grace or the subtlety of the first two women in
his life, but she gave him just what he needed at just the right time; a swift
kick in the ass. And even though each of these women held a special place in
his heart, there was still something missing in his life; someone missing.
There was one fact that
Gilbert Grissom never had the nerve to own up to completely; he was lonely. And
the second thing he had to admit to himself as he continued his drive to work
was that he was only that way by his own choosing. He had been given many
opportunities to end his loneliness, but he had squandered each of those
opportunities. However, there was none that hit him as hard as his decision to
avoid a relationship with another CSI on his team. It had pained him to walk
away from her, but his attraction to her frightened him more than anything he
had ever experienced in his life. He had simply not been brave enough to risk
his whole world on a chance that she might be interested in him beyond a
passing fancy. He had witnessed what taking that kind of risk had done to other
men, and he feared the same results for himself. After all, she was a smart,
caring, witty, indescribably beautiful young woman that had her whole life
ahead of her, so what could he possibly have to offer her? My heart. That thought sent a shiver through his soul and he was
forced to deal with the fact that while he railed against this trait in all
other aspects of his life, he was indeed a coward of the vilest nature.
His last thought as he pulled
into the parking lot of headquarters was that he had a lot of work left to do.
And it had nothing to do with work.
Chapter 32
In the hallway outside of the
Autopsy Room the sounds of metal crashing onto the tile floor rung out through
the corridor and into the stairwell Sara Sidle was making her way through at
that moment. The sound made her jump, but when the realization that the sound
might also mean that someone could be hurt her adrenaline kicked in and she
rushed for the doors. The sight that beheld her when she entered was more than
she could have ever been prepared for in a million years.
As she pushed open the doors
to the morgue, there was a metal tray being dragged across the floor with the
door. When she located the tray behind the door she could also see a trail of
instruments scattered across the floor. As her eyes traced the debris field she
found the source of the disaster in the form of a long-legged, red haired
coroner unceremoniously seated on the floor with her legs sprawled and rubbing
her forehead. At first, Sara was concerned that the young woman was truly hurt,
but when she looked at the expression on her face she had to hold a hand up to
her mouth to keep from bursting out laughing.
Before she could say
anything, Stephanie beat her to the punch, “Don’t say it.” The woman was
obviously embarrassed by the situation.
Sara was seriously struggling
to contain her laughter, “So, um… You want some help?” Her last word contained
a hint of giggle.
Stephanie closed her eyes
tightly, “Just as soon as the little birdies stop flying around my head.”
Sara gingerly stepped over
the strewn instruments and moved closer to Stephanie, “What exactly happened?”
The coroner finally removed her hand from her forehead, and Sara could see the
large, inflamed and red knot already starting to form there. “Oh man… You’re
gonna need some ice for that one.”
Stephanie planted her hands
down on the floor behind her, “Are you sure we can’t amputate?” That was too
much for Sara and she finally busted a gut.
“For some reason, I think
that might make doing your job a little hard.” Sara held out her hands and
gestured for Stephanie to take hold. With a great effort and some counter
balancing the two women were able to return Stephanie to her feet. When she
wobbled a bit Sara took hold of her by the arms, “Whoa… Are you sure you’re
okay?”
Taking a deep breath,
Stephanie steadied herself before she answered the concerned question, “I’ll
let you know when the room stops spinning.”
As humorous as the situation
may have appeared at first, Sara became concerned that it might be more serious
than it looked, “Hey, maybe we should call someone. Maybe get you some help.”
Stephanie leaned back against
the wall a moment and held up her hand, “Please, I’ve had my bell rung harder
than that on the court. I just need to wait for the fog to clear and I’ll be
fine.” When the color started to return to her face she added, “Besides, I was
just suffering from elevation sickness.”
Sara’s face contorted into a
question, “How do you mean?”
Stephanie took on a devilish
expression, “From zero to six four in under three seconds.”
For about half a second Sara
tried to suppress her laughter, but that was about as long as it lasted, and
both women had a good laugh at Stephanie’s expense. “Okay, but at least let me
get you some ice for that goose-egg.” Stephanie nodded slightly with her
agreement and Sara walked away from the dazed young doctor to retrieve some ice
from the office refrigerator.
When Sara returned to the
Autopsy Room, she found Stephanie leaning over cautiously to retrieve some of
the items on the floor, “And what do you think you’re doing?”
Stephanie popped up quickly
and paid the price for her speed with the throbbing in her head, “Owwww.”
“Exactly… Now sit down,” Sara
pulled the chair around to Stephanie and handed her a couple of pills, “Take
these Tylenol and put this on that knot before I give you a new one.” Stephanie
tilted her head slightly and acquiesced as she took a seat on the chair.
Sara bent down and started to
collect the scattered items across the floor. As she was gathering up the
instruments she had a sideways smile on her face because of the irony of the
situation she found herself in at that moment. There she was, looking after the
woman who had taken away what she held dear like some kind of big sister. In
that moment, she was forced to deal with the fact that Stephanie had not taken
anything from her, because he was never hers to begin with. She also realized
that if she had ever met Stephanie under any other circumstances, they probably
would already be trading horror stories of the day over a beer after shift. The
two women had a great deal in common and Sara knew that she should be working
in concert with the gifted pathologist, instead of trying to keep her at arm’s
length as she had been. Sara decided that whatever else she did, she needed to
make peace with this thing and she needed to do it fast. Her distance was
becoming evident to everyone around her, and she did not want this thing to get
any worse. Stephanie had done nothing wrong and Sara needed to get over it.
She had the last of the items
in her hands and had reached the tray by the doorway. Grabbing it and dumping
the items onto it, Sara turned back to Stephanie and walked to where she was
sitting with the ice pack over her head as she leaned it against the exam table
behind her. “Is that helping?”
“It makes the pretty colors
brighter… Does that count?” Sara chuckled at her response.
“Somehow, I don’t think so.”
Sara set the tray down on the table and moved Stephanie’s hand that held the
ice pack, “Well, the swelling is going down, but I still think we should have
someone take a look at that.”
“Got a mirror?”
Sara was a little confused by
the question, but she looked around the room and found a small mirror on the
counter at the far wall. She walked over and retrieved it for whatever purpose
Stephanie has asked for it. Handing it to the young woman, she remarked,
“Here’s one, but why?”
Stephanie set the ice pack
down on the table behind her and took the mirror. She focused her eyes and
gazed at the goose-egg on her forehead for half a minute, “Frontal contusion,
no internal swelling, existing external swelling ceased and dissipating. Minor
injury requiring dispensing of Tylenol and application of ice to wound. Discharged.”
She put the mirror down and smiled at Sara, “I saw someone… Happy now?”
She could not help but smirk
at Stephanie’s sarcasm, “Yeah, I guess that’ll have to do, smart ass.” Sara
looked around the room again and was trying to figure out how Stephanie had
ended up on the floor like that, but there did not appear to be anything to
cause the injury to her head like that, so she was forced to ask, “So, how in
the world did you knock yourself out?”
Stephanie returned the ice
pack to her forehead and leaned her head back again, but this time she pointed
up with her other hand, “The ALM.” Sara followed her hand up and saw the light
and camera system that worked on an octopus of swing arms. “Al must have been the last one at this table
and I guess I wasn’t paying attention when I was walking through the room.
Smacked right into it and ended up getting dumped on my ass with some pretty
stars blinking all around my head.”
“Well, that does explain one
thing.” It was Sara’s turn for the devilish expression.
“What’s that?”
“Your attraction to riding
around on that stool all the time.” Sara smirked again,
“Yeah, that and it gives you
Amazon woman thighs.” That was too much for Sara and she was laughing at the
comment, and at the same time she wanted to remember that line for future
mischief making opportunities. “So, to what due I owe the honor of your
presence?”
Busted. Sara
instantly realized that Stephanie had noticed her avoidance of the Autopsy Room
that week. “Ah, well, two things… First, I need the final on that stabbing vic
from yesterday.”
Stephanie reached behind her
to the stack of folders setting on the exam table and handed them all to Sara,
“In there somewhere… Next.”
She was not making it easy on
Sara, but Sara knew that she deserved it. She took a deep breath and blew it
out slowly, “Well, yeah… I wanted to thank you for cleaning up my neck the
other night and to kind of apologize.”
“Apologize? Why? I just
cleaned up that cut on your neck and bandaged it up… Did I miss something
again?” Stephanie had removed the ice pack and was looking Sara in the eye,
which was not making it any easier for her.
“No, not about that, it’s
just I um… I’m sure you’ve noticed I haven’t really been down here.” She
watched Stephanie nod and continued, “Yeah, so I’ve kind of been dealing with
some stuff and-.”
“That’s okay, Warrick kind of
explained it to me, so don’t sweat it. I can always have David run your reports
upstairs, if you want.” Sara was trying desperately not to look so surprised,
but her mind was racing a million miles a minute. “I can understand that kind
of stuff, and I don’t want to make it any worse.”
All the scenarios running
through her head were making her a little insane in that instant, and needed to
find something to say, “Yeah, well, I appreciate that. But I just wanted to
make sure you knew it wasn’t really you, it’s just something I have to get
through on my own, ya know.”
Stephanie slowly rose from
her chair and went to walk past Sara, but she stopped long enough to put a hand
on her shoulder, “Well, if you need any help with that, just holler… You know
where to find me.” She smiled at Sara and the caring she saw there nearly broke
her heart.
Chapter 33
The normal chatter coming
from the break room told Grissom that the gang was all there. He flipped
through the assignment sheets once more before taking those last few steps into
view. He was running it over in his head again, and he just wanted to make sure
that it sounded as logical to everyone else as he had justified it in his head.
If this was ever going to work then he had to make sure he always played his
cards very close to the vest.
He took one solid, deep
breath, letting it out slowly and then pushed forward into the Break Room,
“Okay, we’ve got a busy night, but only because we need to double up on a
couple.”
Nick looked around searching
for someone, “Hey Gris… Where’s Cath?”
Grissom looked up from his
clipboard, “What? Oh, yeah, she’s got court. So, she’s pulling half a shift
here at the lab. We’re on our own tonight in the field.” He returned his
attention to his clipboard as everyone got ready to take on their assignments
for the night. “Okay, Warrick… I want you to take Greg on this one, and let him
take lead. You’re doing his eval tonight. DUI, reckless driving, vehicular
homicide.” Warrick nodded as he took the slip from Grissom.
“Sounds quick,” Warrick
remarked.
Grissom gave him a raised
eyebrow in judgment, “Which is why it’s a good evaluation case for Greg. It is
also why you’re on call with dispatch tonight.” Nick slapped Warrick on the
back and laughed at the man’s predicament. They all knew what being on call
meant in their profession; Warrick and Greg would be running calls all night.
“And then we have the DB found in a dumpster one block off the UNLV campus.
Nicky, that one has your name all over it.”
Taking the slip from
Grissom’s grasp Nick was visibly unhappy, “I knew I should’ve worn my other
shoes.”
“Okay, that leaves us with
the Rape/Homicide at the Palms.” Grissom looked back down at his notes and
waited to hear if there was any reaction in the room. When he detected none he
continued, “Sara, you’re going to run lead on this one.” He paused again,
hoping his next landmine would not explode in his face, “Catherine’s going to
run the body, which is en route now, and I will be the secondary on the scene.”
“Wait, why do I need
babysitting?” There it was, and now Grissom needed to minimize the damage.
“Not babysitting, Sara. This
is a high profile case and the Sheriff was very specific in how the case was to
be handled and more specifically who was handling it.” He could see that
although her anger was still present, she did appear to be calming down a bit.
“Catherine and I are taking secondary at his request, but he wanted the primary
to be the person in the department with the highest closure rate on rape cases.
It just so happens that Sara is that person.” Everyone in the room nodded their
heads in silent agreement. They all knew that Sara was the person any of them
wanted investigating a rape, because she was insanely thorough and dedicated to
any case involving violence on women. “Satisfied?”
Sara sat back in her seat
with a small feeling of vindication stirring in her soul. The look on her face
nearly matched that feeling, but her words remained guarded, “Fine, but if I’ve
got lead, that means I really have lead. No relief pitching in this inning, got
it?”
Grissom held up his hands in
mock surrender, “Strictly a bench warmer on this one.” Sara nodded her head
with her sense of victory. “Okay, that should do it. Just remember to check
with dispatch when you change locations. Ecklie has some bee in his bonnet
about time statistics at the moment, so try not to forget.” Grissom returned to
his clipboard, not expecting anymore questions.
“Dispatch?” Sara questioned.
“Yes, why?”
“Well, that just seems
redundant and ridiculous for us to call into Dispatch and increase their call
volume when all he has to do is pull a GPS report from our phones.” Sara’s face
was a mass of confusion from the request.
Then it was Grissom’s turn to
be confused, “Really, you can do that?”
Catherine chose that moment
to make her presence in the doorway known, “Of course, Gil… All of our phones
are GPS enabled.” Catherine put a hand on her cocked hip and added her opinion
to the scenario, “Sounds to me like someone is trying to artificially inflate
the call volume in Dispatch.”
“I hadn’t thought about that,
but I was thinking the GPS reports could just be one more way for them to track
the evidence by showing precise times and locations of collection.” Sara and
Catherine appeared to be brainstorming on this new development and it sparked
something in Grissom’s mind.
“I’ll tell you what, you two
put that stuff into a one page proposal, and I’ll submit it to the Under
Sheriff. With full credit going to you both, of course.” Grissom had that glint
of mischievousness in his crystal blue eyes, “It’d be nice to have ole Ecklie
over the barrel for a change.” Everyone laughed and took that as their cue to
depart for the evening.
Catherine, Sara and Grissom
remained to conference about their high-profile case. And once everyone else
had cleared the room Catherine began, “Look, Sara… You need to watch your toes
over at that crime scene. The vic is the niece of one of the gambling
commissioners, which is where all the heat is coming from right now.”
“That explains a lot, but
what’s going on at the scene?” Sara spoke freely with Catherine, and Grissom
silently wondered when the two women had finally put their differences aside.
“Not only is the vic
connected, but so is the key suspect. Last guy to be seen with her is the
assistant manager of security at the Palms.” Catherine’s voice took on a
conspiratorial aire, and Grissom felt like a bit of an outsider during the
briefing.
“Great,” Sara exhaled
sharply. “So, the vic is related to the gaming commissioner, and the only
suspect helps run the casino where the vic was found… How am I supposed to find
evidence then? You know that scene’s been tampered with.”
Grissom had to interject that
time, “Sara, we can’t go making assump-“
“Please Grissom… I’ve been in
Vegas more than long enough to know how these things work around here. That
scene has been sanitized for certain.” Sara was being very dismissive of
Grissom’s advice. “Okay, we’ll hit the
scene, make a good show of things, and then get back here to process the body
with the coroner. Who’s on duty tonight?”
Catherine felt almost like
she was talking to a different woman tonight. Sara seemed so composed and
self-assured, that Catherine was wondering what had been going on in her head
to invoke this new self. “Well, David is en route with the body right now and
Stephanie is down in the morgue. Think we should call Doc Robbins in on this
one?”
“Are you kidding? No way.”
That answer surprised both Grissom and Catherine, “No offense to Doc Robbins,
but Stephanie has a much better track record with Rape/Homicide.” The two
senior members of the team looked at each other with puzzled expressions, and
Sara sensed their confusion so she elaborated, “While she was with LA County,
there was an eighty five percent closure rate on the Rape/Homicide cases in
which she was the coroner of record.” When their gazes still showed traces of
incredulity, she further explained, “I looked her up when she first got here…
If you ever get a chance, there’s some pretty impressive data coming out of the
LA County online databases.”
Catherine was the first to
break the spell of the new Sara, “Well, all right… Stephanie it is.” Catherine
turned and walked out of the Break Room.
“And when you get down there,
tell her we’re expecting her triple a game on this one.” Sara called after
Catherine as she was already in the hallway. Sara then turned to Grissom, ready
to move into action, “Your car or mine?”
Grissom suddenly realized
that Sara was talking to him and forced himself out of his own mind as quickly
as he could, “What? Oh, um, I’ll drive. That way you can get ready for the
case.” As he had regained his footing, he felt compelled to add one more thing,
“And your close up.”
Sara was taken aback by his
offhand remark as they both made their way out into the hallway, “What’re you
talking about, Gris?”
Grissom just shrugged and
kept moving forward as he answered her, “High profile case is called high
profile because of the press involvement… I’m sure the Sheriff will want to
show off his crack crew to the cameras for this case.”
Sara stopped in her tracks
because she had never considered that being chosen for this case meant that she
would have to be on camera at any time. Grissom looked to his side and was
surprised to not find Sara there. He stopped and turned back to find her
standing there with an ashen expression upon her otherwise stunning face,
“Sara?” He took the few steps back to where she was standing and took up
position behind her. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gave her a gentle
push forward, “Come on, Tallulah… Your public awaits.”
Chapter 34
Their ride to the crime scene
had been uneventful, even if it had been filled with stress and apprehension
for his passenger. Grissom watched as Sara straightened her hair and applied a
small amount of makeup. He was mesmerized by the process of human female
preening. He understood all the inner workings of the process in the entire
insect kingdom, but the mysteries of his own species eluded him. Of course, the
fact that he had never been privy to it in his lifetime may have had some
influence on his ignorance. His mother had always “freshened up” away from
prying eyes in her bathroom. Grissom had never been in any other relationship
long enough or serious enough to ever offer him that glimpse into the female
realm.
It also struck him as odd,
that in all of his relationships, the women would have been considered “high
maintenance” by most standards, but in his friendships (which he considered to
have been far closer in nature than any romantic interest he had ever held) all
of the women possessed a natural beauty without all the trappings of supposed
femininity. As he watched Sara apply the modest amount of makeup, he realized
that it did not change her beauty, but only made it more obvious to the
untrained eye. But my eye is well trained
to her beauty.
That last thought caused
Grissom to have to look away from observing her beside him. He was still trying
to work out in his head just how he was going to approach Sara with the
resolutions he had finally come to after all this time. But he was certain that
if he did nothing, all would be lost, so he was stuck between a rock and hard
place.
Stephanie and her mother had
invited him to a party Friday night to celebrate her impending nuptials.
Grissom thought that perhaps he could invite Sara to join him for the party,
but then he remembered about their altercation in the morgue and continued to
search his arsenal for an appropriate and neutral territory to enter into with
her for this revelation of his.
Unable to contain himself,
Grissom glanced back over in her direction, but she was now entranced in the
case file. Leave it to Sara to find
comfort in the case file.
Before long, they were
pulling out in front of the Palms, and Grissom was forced to retreat into his
work persona once more. They were soon caught up in the swirl of attention this
incident had created in the media. And Grissom marveled at Sara’s grace under
pressure as the Sheriff pulled her into an impromptu press conference, with
Sara standing by his side and Grissom just behind them both. From his vantage
point he observed that she was calm, cool and collected during the entire
ordeal, on the surface. Underneath, he imagined that she felt like a rabbit at
a greyhound farm, but he had to give her credit for not letting the Sheriff (or
the press) witness that aspect of her personality.
When they walked away from
the chaos out in front of the casino, across the lobby and into the elevators,
he marveled as she retained her composure throughout the entire mess. It was
not until the doors to the elevator had closed that he got even the slightest
indication that she was not an old pro at press conferences. When he looked
back at her, she had slumped against the rail of the elevator and was holding
her forehead in her hand as her breath became a little ragged with the
expulsion of the stress with each successive breath. But it was all gone in an
instant when she felt the elevator come to a slow stop, as she took in a deep
breath and her tough as nails exterior was snapped right back into place.
As the doors opened up, they
found Jim Brass waiting at the doors for them, “Nice of you to join us.” The
smirk on his face told them that he was only joking, “So, as I’m sure you’ve
heard, this is a high profile case.” His words were practically dripping with
sarcasm, and Grissom had to suppress the smirk that was forming at the corner
of his mouth.
“The twenty cameras shoved in
my face were a pretty good indicator.” That was Sara, always quick with the
sarcasm to throw back at Brass. “So, what kind of mess are we looking at,
Brass?”
“Of the first order, of
course.” He winked at Sara and she smiled through one corner of her mouth,
“Look, the only suspect we have so far works security here at the Palms, so I’m
sure you know what we’re dealin’ with here. A whole lot of nothin’”
Sara exhaled sharply, “Well,
what do we know about the vic… A Shondra Levinsky?”
Brass pulled out his notebook
and rattled off the details found there, “Niece of one Ira Levinsky, gambling
commissioner. Grad student at UNLV, studying sociology. Very bright, but has a
penchant for the bad boys. Enter Miles Waggoner, security here at the Palms.
Past history of trouble with the law, but all of it looks like youthful
offender type stuff.”
Sara interrupted, “Boys will
be boys?”
“Possibly, but the guy has
some serious connections himself, because it looks like most of the juvenile
record is under a protective seal. I’ll see what I can do to break that one.”
Brass looked from Sara to Grissom with a questioning look, and Grissom
instantly knew what he was about to say, “So, did the bugs finally eat his
tongue, or is there some other reason you’re asking all the questions?”
Grissom smirked a little
before answering, “Don’t look at me… I’m just here for the dog and pony show,
under orders. Sara is your ace tonight.”
Brass seemed satisfied with
that answer and he continued their briefing, “I’ve got the suspect on his way
to interrogation, under double guard. And they are under strict orders not to
let him do so much as breathe in the wrong direction. I also ordered them to
pull a UA from the guy. I figured you guys would want to beat him to the punch
on a diminished capacity defense.”
“Your time in CSI must have
paid off, Brass.” Sara winked at him as they walked up to the door of the suite
where the crime took place. “So, is there anything else I need to know before
going in here?”
“Just that it probably won’t
take you long to process… The place is oddly clean for a dead girl to have been
found there.” Brass shrugged it off as best he could.
Grissom just had to add his
own little twist to the conversation, “Gives new meaning to the slogan, ‘What
happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.’” Sara chuckled and shook her head. Only
Grissom could get away with such a corny line and still make her laugh.
Chapter 35
They had made quick work of
the scene, as was predicted. Also as predicted, there was hardly anything in
the place that could be linked to the victim or the suspect. The whole thing
smacked of a cover up a little too much for Grissom’s taste. Even in Vegas they
tried to at least give you something to chase your tail with, but this time
there was nothing in the room that would indicate what had happened in there.
Their only hope was that Catherine and Stephanie had been able to discover
something on the body to help them solve the case.
There was one more thing that
was bothering Gil Grissom about this case; he was not running the show. This
was probably the first time that he could remember in many years where he was
not controlling the scene in some way. Sara had been very explicit with him
about not overstepping his bounds on this case; that if she were to be the lead
that meant he had to take a back seat at all times. Grissom was surprised to
find out that Sara was able to so quickly adapt to the role of the dominant
personality with regards to their interactions with the other personnel on the
scene. He was delighted at seeing her excel in the public eye when the Sheriff
had asked her to speak with the press again after clearing the scene. As much
as Grissom had admired and respected Sara’s intelligence and capability as a
CSI, he had never realized her potential as a leader within that organization.
He had decided, as he watched her effortlessly swat at the questions being thrown
to her by the members of the press, that with just a bit more experience, she
would be an even better supervisor than he or Catherine could ever hope to be.
She truly was an exceptional woman.
Grissom’s journey into his
own mind was cut short by the words of Jim Brass as he took up a position
beside Grissom at the back wall. “I’ll give her credit for one thing…” He
waited for Grissom to turn his attention away from the crowd, “She’s much
better with those vultures than either of us ever were, old buddy.”
Grissom chuffed at his joke,
“Yeah, but that’s not saying a whole lot, Jim.”
Brass nodded his head in
agreement, but with a smirk he added, “Then I’d say she’s actually good at that
stuff. And the way that windbag from channel eight is fawning over her, I bet
she walks away from there with a date.”
Grissom instantly stiffened
at the mention of Sara dating, and he tried to play it off by looking at his
watch and showing impatience, “Well, I better get her out of there if we’re
going to get anywhere on this case tonight.”
As Grissom hurried over to
where the press had amassed around Sara and Sheriff Burdick, Jim Brass shook
his head and chuckled, “Sure thing, buddy…” He turned away shaking his head and
made one more comment to himself, “Man, talk about having it bad. Cath better
be right about this, or she’s gonna owe me big time.”
Chapter 36
She was still fuming at
Grissom for tearing her away from the press conference, but Sara did have to
admit that they needed to get back to the lab to get a good look at the body
before the autopsy started. However, she was not ready to let him know that she
had forgiven him, just yet. She wanted him to stew in frustration for a while
longer. Lord knows he’s done it to me
often enough.
Sara continued looking out
the window of the SUV, trying hard not to look into his pleading eyes. She had
realized after her conversation with Stephanie the night before that she needed
to finally put all of this animosity to bed and move on with her life. And her
life was in Las Vegas, with her friends and the people who had become her
family.
Her family; what a strange
concept that was for Sara. Nick and Warrick were definitely her brothers,
though she was not sure if they were her twins or older brothers, since they
seemed to switch positions depending on the situation. Greg was, without a
doubt, her bratty little brother. For her, Brass was more than a big brother,
but slightly less than a father figure, so she decided he was the kindly uncle
that dispensed jokes, wisdom and kept a shoulder handy in case you needed it.
And although her relationship with Catherine had been tenuous at best in their
past, she still felt a connection with her that was not quite friendship, but
certainly bordered on that bossy big sister kind of vibe. That left her with
the biggest piece of the dysfunctional family puzzle; where does Grissom fit
into the family?
Sara knew, without a moment’s
hesitation, that Grissom belonged in her life, she just did not know where
anymore. He had been her teacher and mentor, and he had been her friend. But
that was where the clarity ended for Sara. She had always hoped, for a very
long time, that they would become more than friends. It was apparent to Sara
that it was no longer possible to keep that hope alive. So, why am I having so much trouble letting it go?
Sara
did not have any more time to find an answer for that question, because the SUV
came to a stop in the parking lot at the lab, signaling that it was time to get
back to business. When she sensed no movement from the driver’s seat, she
hazarded a glance over that way and found Grissom gripping the steering wheel
tightly and hanging his head down. She opened her mouth to say something, but
for a change, he beat her to it, “Sara, I’m sorry I overstepped my bounds. I
have no excuse, but I am sorry.”
It
took a moment for her to register that her mouth was still open after hearing
those pained words coming from such a proud man. She could instantly tell that
he truly was sorry for having taken charge at the end of her press conference,
and Sara suspected she knew the real reason behind it; Grissom hated not being
in control. She had long believed that his greatest fear was a total loss of
control, and tonight he had been given a small glimpse of it, and it probably
had him a little freaked out. For something like that, Sara would always
forgive him his fault. “It’s okay…” Grissom turned with a deeply grateful
expression on his face and Sara found that she too was losing control. “But you
owe me.” Sara tried to stop those last words from coming out, as well as the
crooked smile that was playing on her face at that moment. She did not know
what it was in her nature that forced her to flirt with the man like that, but
she never seemed to be able to control it.
The
corners of Grissom’s mouth turned up and his eyes twinkled with delight,
“Thanks, and I’m sure you’ll find some way to collect.”
Sara
quickly got out of the car and tried to hide her surprise at what she believed
may have been a suggestive remark from Grissom. How the hell is that possible? Are you losing your grip, Sidle?
Grissom could not possibly be flirting with her. Not now. She fought the
notion, deciding instead that the two had simply returned to a happier time,
when they could both be comfortable with each other without the veil of tension
that they had been living with for some time now. Grissom would not be the kind
of person that would ever cheat, she knew that down in her heart, so Sara
chalked the whole thing up to wishful thinking on her part. Chalk… Damn my mind!
She
walked the rest of the way into the lab without saying a word, hoping to make
all of the other thoughts vanish in her mind. When they got inside, Grissom
spoke to break her away from her shields once more, “How about I get all this
‘evidence’ logged, so you can get down to Autopsy?”
Sara
responded with great speed, hoping it did not make her sound too nervous,
“Yeah, that would be great. See you down there.” Down there… With her. Sara instantly chided herself for thinking
such a thing. Stephanie was not the bad guy in this thing, and Sara actually
liked the young doctor. She kept reminding herself that this was the first day
of her new life and it was time to stop dwelling on that old one. She was going
to put it all behind her if it was the last thing she did. And as she pushed
through the doors of Autopsy to find Stephanie and Catherine chattering about
something, she realized it just might be the last thing.
“Hey,
Ladies.” Sara called out to them so that they knew she had entered the room.
“Oh,
hi Sara… We’re just waiting for David to finish prepping the body right now.”
Stephanie waved her over to join them.
She
sat down on the stool that Catherine had slid over for her and found the two
women with cryptic smiles on their faces. “Okay, so what’s the joke?”
Catherine
gave her a sideways glance and said, “No joke, I was just giving Steph the
lowdown on some of the goings on around here.”
“That
could be dangerous.” There were never truer words spoken, and Sara was wary of
just where this discussion was going.
Stephanie’s
face told Sara that she was about let the genie out the bottle, “So, did you
really have to take a shower with Greg?”
The
air actually left Sara’s lungs with the question. “Wha-What?”
“Yeah,
so it was a DeCon shower, but still… Did you, ya know, see anything?” The two
conspirators burst out laughing that time.
“Oh
man… I’ve had nightmares about discussions like these.” Sara covered her face
and shook her head trying to hide the blush that was burning on her cheeks.
“Oh,
c’mon, Sara… You gotta spill.” Catherine once again reminded Sara that she
truly was a feline creature with the expression on her face at that moment.
“I
can’t believe I’m doing this, but yes.” The two women howled in delight, and
Sara had to admit it was an entertaining way to pass the time.
“As
the only eye witness to the crime, can you confirm or deny the rumors?” Sara
could swear that Catherine was the younger of the three women with the way she
was goading on the base nature of the conversation.
Sara
tucked her chin down, and looked at the women through the top of her eyes with
a slight grimace on her face before answering, “Neither… It was exaggerated,
but not that much.” The howls increased and were only silenced by the arrival
of David into the room when they immediately shushed themselves and pretended
to be doing nothing.
David
wheeled the body in and was about to transfer it to the exam table when he
spoke, “According my fiancé, his last girlfriend claimed that no matter the
size, he wasn’t very good with it.” And the howling resumed with great vigor
and found David blushing wildly.
“Nice
one, David!” Stephanie got up and slapped him on the back for a gesture of
congratulations, “We’ll make a proper smart ass out of you yet.”
“If
you only you heard the things I keep to myself.” With that Stephanie was
laughing again.
“Don’t
worry… Between me and Sandy, we’ll get you whipped into shape soon enough.”
Stephanie looked at the condition of the body before she returned her attention
to David, “Hey, what about those new drain trap filters?”
“Oh,
I almost forgot.” He handed an evidence jar of unknown material to Sara,
wrapped the lip with red evidence tape and signed it with the date. “Here’s the
rest of your trace.” He turned back to the doctor, “I love those new filters. I
didn’t have to handle the stuff at all, just popped it out and put it in the
jar. Where on earth did you find those?”
Stephanie
chuckled, “Found? No. Sold? Yes… You should be able to get those from our
regular supplier sometime in the next six months.” She was going through her
instruments then, as though she was not saying anything monumental, “Just make
sure you don’t dump the O-Rings, and let me know when you start to run short
before they offer them from Baxter.” She was already engrossed in preparing for
her autopsy, and did not notice the stunned faces of those around her.
Catherine
decided that she could not let the question go unasked, “Wait, so you MADE those filters and sold the design?”
Stephanie
finally looked up from her task, “What? Oh, no, I just sold the Pacific and
Mountain Region production rights to Baxter Medical Supply. I still hold the
patent.” She turned back to her preparations and started gloving up for the
exam, leaving the others to stand with their mouths agape.
That
was what Grissom found as he entered the room, “Leaving them speechless once
again?”
Stephanie
popped her head up and looked through her safety glasses, “What?” She looked
around at the others in the room and discovered what he was referring to and
laughed, “Well, yeah I guess… What did I say?”
Catherine
shook her head, hoping it would clear the fog, “Gil, did you know Stephanie has
a patent on some filters for the prep table?”
Grissom
reached over and grabbed three gowns for himself and the other two women,
handing one to each of them as he responded in a nonchalant tone, “Of course,
who do you think recommended a good patent attorney?” He turned his attention
over to Stephanie, who had continued her work unimpeded by the incredulity of
the others in the room, “Did you ever get the production rights sorted out?”
Without
moving her focus away from the body before her, Stephanie responded in a
monotone, “Yeah, but Tony is still working on the Atlantic and Midwest Regions,
and he said something about some trade law complications with the Canadian
manufacturer and the American ones, so I’m still waiting to hear back on those.
But I just let Tony deal with that headache. Since he only works for a
percentage, I know he’s gonna do the right thing.”
Grissom
nodded, “That’s why I recommended him. Those other guys with their retainers
and fees are only interested in themselves. A good patent attorney is your
salvation, especially when it isn’t your primary focus. What’s that
discoloration around mouth?”
His
last comment broke the trance that both Catherine and Sara had been in, and
they quickly strapped on their gowns and leaned in to get a better view. “I was
just going to comment on that, but let me check-.” She reached in and turned up
the lips to see the underside, “Yep, bruising. Looks like she may have bit down
on her lips, or had it done to her.”
Sara
gave her a puzzled expression, “I don’t get it?”
“Oh
come on, Sara… You’ve never had someone get hold of your lip in a, um,
passionate moment?” Sara blushed and looked away momentarily, “Anyway, some
people get off on the whole biting thing. I saw a lot of weird stuff at the LA
County Coroners, but mostly because my branch was in the same jurisdiction as
these two ‘houses.’ So, we ended up having to do a lot of bite impressions for
the PD.”
Catherine’s
interest was piqued, “’Houses?’”
“Yeah,
you know, they’re mostly these warehouse buildings where people run fetish clubs.
I hear it’s a fairly lucrative business. Low overhead, contract workers at
most, and the owner/operator takes at least fifty percent off the top for their
fee.” Stephanie looked around the room and found a mass of faces in different
states of being: Sara was shocked, Catherine was amused, David was intrigued
and Gil actually looked embarrassed. The last one really confused Stephanie,
because she had always considered her uncle to be one of the most open minded
men she knew. There’s gotta be a story to
that one. I wonder who I should ask about it? “Anyway… From the
preliminary, I’d say this young woman was having one heck of a night.”
That
phrase snapped Sara out of her stupor, “What? Like a date?”
“That
would have been one hell of a date, if you ask me… No, what I’m saying is that
she showed all the signs of a serious night of passion. We found what appeared
to be massage oil on her skin, lubricant in the lower orifices, and I believe
trace will find that the substance we discovered between her toes was saliva.”
Sara
was confused, “Then, what was the COD?”
“Well,
we did discover some blood inside the mouth. Catherine took swabs of all the
usual suspects, and that was when we noticed the blood inside her mouth. First
glance looked like her tongue was bitten.” Stephanie moved for the head and
started the process of opening the mouth. “Oh yeah, and I almost forgot,
although we found no semen, we’re pretty sure there was evidence of a condom,
and so I have initially ruled out foreign object penetration. And also on the
prelim I’m going out on a limb and say this was consensual.”
Grissom
was a little shocked at that one, “Are you sure? I mean, that just seems odd
considering the girl is dead.”
“I
don’t know what to tell you about that part, but the clock tells it all on the
sex part. It was all textbook lunch hour variety sex.” Stephanie opened the
mouth fully and then turned around to pick up an instrument with which to
retrieve the tongue.
“Lunch
Hour?” Catherine was confused by the phrase.
Sara
responded, “She’s referring to the vaginal clock, Cath.”
“OH!
Sorry, just not used to that verbage.” Catherine felt a little silly by her
question, but was quickly relieved when David responded.
“You
should have seen me the first time she asked me to ‘douche the DB.’” They all
had a quick laugh over the comment and David’s attempt at humor.
“Hey…
I’m young, and it’s not my fault you people are stuck in the mud.”
Grissom
interjected, “I resemble that remark.”
“Only
when you want to.” Stephanie winked at him, and Sara felt the bile rising in
her stomach. And this time, it had nothing to do with the dead body on the
table before them. “Okay,” The coroner quickly changed the timber of her voice,
“This is interesting.”
They
all leaned in to get a better view. “What is that?” Catherine had her nose
crinkled up as she looked at the protruding and disfigured tongue of the body
on the table.
“Well,
I’ll tell you one thing it’s not… It’s no love bite. This tongue has been
multilated.” She looked over at David, “David, call up to Wendi and make sure
she rushes that tox, please.?”
David
nodded his head and moved straight for the phone. “Hello, Wendi?... Yeah, it’s
David down in the morgue… Fine, thank you… Dr. MacInnerney wanted me to ask you
to expedite that tox report for the Levinsky case… Okay… Thank you, Wendi…
Goodbye.” David hung up the phone and turned back to the people at the table,
“She says she’s working on it right now, and there was no semen, but positive
for lubricant and spermicide, and a second vaginal contribution.”
His
last comment got everyone in the room to look up and straight at him, but Sara
was the first one to speak, “WHAT?!”
David’s
face immediately lost all color and he stammered out the words again, “Positive
for lu-.”
“The
last part, David.” Sara sounded almost angry.
“There
was a second vaginal contribution?”
Sara
ripped off her gown and gloves and took out her phone, “I better let Brass
know… He’s got another suspect to track down.”
Chapter 37
“Look
asshole, I don’t care what you think you’ve got on me, I didn’t do anything!” The suspect was becoming extremely agitated under the
barrage of questions coming at him from Jim Brass. Grissom was in the
Interrogation Room, but he was merely sitting in the back with his arms folded
over his chest with a smug look of condescension on his face. Catherine hated
to admit it, but there was no one in all of LVPD better than Jim and Gil at
turning a case in the Interrogation Room. In all other avenues of human interaction
Gil Grissom was a veritable kindergartner, but in that room he was golden. She
wondered if he had learned that skill from his years working with Stephanie’s
father in San Francisco. She just had trouble picturing Gil as a pimply faced,
graduate student rookie working with the hardened, experienced and straight
laced inspector she had heard so much about. She had long suspected that the
man was a creation in Gil’s mind, but after meeting Stephanie and her mother,
and hearing the same stories told from their perspectives, she decided the man
was the thing of legends and the person upon which the stereotype was derived.
Catherine
returned her attention to the scene unfolding on the other side of the two-way
glass. She could sense that Gil was about to pounce when she heard a knock on
the door. Gil stood up and went to the door, while Brass continued to question
their suspect, Miles Waggoner. “Look, kid… I don’t know who you think
you’re helpin’ but it ain’t you. We’re gonna find out who else was in that room,
with or without your help, and I think it would be in your best i-.”
“I’m
not tellin’ you again, there was nobody else in that room. And when I left,
Shondra was sleepin’. Not dead, just sleepin’. Got it, asshole?” The man was obviously lying, and if Catherine had
been in that room she would have told him as much, but she also knew that was
why she was not in that room.
She
noticed that Gil had just finished talking to whoever had come to the door and
was returning to his chair with a new folder in his hands. He was busying
himself by flipping through the pages and drawing the suspect’s attention to
himself as he did it. She could sense the growing apprehension in the suspect
as his eyes darted back and forth from Brass to Gil. The tension was starting to
get to her as well, and when the door to the Observation Room opened up, she
nearly jumped out of her skin. Sara came walking into the room with an
identical folder in her hands and was examining the contents when she almost
bumped into Catherine, “Hey, watch it,” she whispered to Sara.
Sara’s
gaze moved up, “Sorry, I thought you were farther away.” However, Sara never
took her gaze from the pages of that folder.
“Okay,
I can’t stand it anymore… What’s in the damn folder?” Catherine’s impatience
got the better of her.
“Oh
nothing.” Sara closed up the folder and the look on her face was that of pure
satisfaction, “Just the whole damn case.”
That
was too much for Catherine and she ripped the folder out of Sara’s grasp and
started going through the pages. She found the toxicology report first, “Wait,
phenabarbitol? Who takes that?” Her fingers traced further down the list, “And
Xtasy? What, were they crazy? You can’t take those together. It would send you
straight into-.” That was when it dawned on her, and she gritted her teeth in
order to keep her voice down as she spoke through her clenched jaw, “She was a
goddamn epileptic?!”
Sara
smiled that mysterious smile of hers and spoke, “Steph was running on a hunch
and managed to track down her primary physician. Ever since a head injury last
year, she’s had seizures. Doctors just got them under control last month, with
the phenabarb. The girl had gone back to her life as it was before the
accident. Check the last page.”
Catherine
quickly skipped through to the last page, which was an arrest report for two
years prior, and it showed that the young woman had been picked up for buying
Xtasy, but that her connections got her off, and the only thing letting them
know what had happened was the log book of the arresting officer. “I’ll be-.”
Before she could finish that thought, Sara had held up a hand, signaling
Catherine to be quiet. When she looked up, she saw that Grissom had gotten up
from his seat and was walking around the room flipping through the folder.
“I
love it when he gets going like that. You can just smell the confession, can’t
you?” Catherine remarked to herself that Sara looked extremely pleased in that
moment; almost proud. Grissom was doing what Grissom did best, and no one
appreciated that more than Sara.
The
suspect was following Grissom with his eyes as he listened to Brass drone on,
but he did not hear a word. He was obviously worried about what Grissom had in
that folder he was flipping through as he walked around the room. Grissom finally
broke his silence, “So, did you know Shondra before the accident?”
“I
already told you guys, she was just some broad I picked up in the casino.
Nothing more.” The suspect was
wringing his hands as he spoke, and Catherine instantly knew that he was lying.
“Hmmm.”
Grissom pursed his lips when he
made the noise and the suspect was still following his every movement. “Are
you sure it wasn’t the other way around, Mr. Waggoner?”
“What?!
What are you talking about?” The
man was getting more nervous by the moment.
“Oh
nothing… So, let me ask you about the suite; is it common place for your
employer to al-.”
“I’ve
had it!” The man’s cool had
completely dissolved, “Are you gonna tell me what’s in that
fuckin’ folder, or keep asking me the same goddamn questions all night? I been
cooperative, and I still ain’t called my freakin’ lawyer to show you I’m bein’
a right guy. So quit the games, huh?” The man was quite animated, but
Grissom was still completely cool and detached.
“In
good time, I just have a few more questions before we get to the new evidence.” That answer was just a little to cryptic, even for
Grissom, and Catherine immediately went back to the folder. When she looked
over at Sara, she had that smile on her face again. Dammit, I hate being behind the curve. She quickly searched through
the pages when she found a photo which looked like it had come from a video
camera. She stared at the page for a few moments, instantly recognizing the
victim and the suspect, locked in a passionate display, but there was another
woman in the picture who seemed to be enjoying the view from the other side of
the booth they were sitting in down in one of the bars at the Palms. She stared
at the other young woman in the picture for a long time, because the face was
vaguely familiar so Catherine was trying to put a name to the face.
Sara
kept looking in the Interrogation Room and not even glancing away from the
scene in there, but Catherine was determined to bring that name to the surface.
“Try to remember the retirement/promotion party where Gris was supposed to give
that speech for Ecklie.” As Sara spoke the words, Catherine replayed that
horrible night over in her head and that was when the image finally had a name.
“O’Reilly
is gonna lose it!” Catherine could not believe that O’Reilly’s daughter was
involved in something like this, but at the same time she knew very little
about the girl. Although, she supposed she should revise that “girl” statement
judging from the picture.
“That’s
why I already sent Sofia and Vartann over to his house to break it to him and
let him bring her in.”
Catherine
could not believe Sara had done that, on her own, without consulting anyone.
Catherine was really beginning to like this new Sara. “You think that was
wise?”
“The
old guy deserves that much. I mean, it’s not like his daughter knew what would
happen if her friend took that stuff. Just some stupid kids out for kicks.”
Sara’s eyes never left the glass, and Catherine looked inside to see what had
transpired while she was wrapped up in the case file. She found the suspect
with his head on the table, the picture of the three of them sitting face up on
the table and Brass was shaking his head. Grissom had obviously broken the man,
and when she glanced at her watch, in record time.
Catherine
had regained her calm and decided to use it for some fun. “Kids? You better
watch it; you’re starting to sound like me.” Neither woman took their eyes off
the glass.
“Is
that supposed to scare me?” Sara did not move an inch.
“It
would have scared the hell out of me if the tables had been reversed.”
Catherine was determined not to be the first person to look away.
Sara
was relishing in the fact that the case was about to be closed, and as she
watched Grissom and Brass working the suspect to squeeze every last piece of
information out of the man, she simply could not help herself, “Damn, that
man’s good.”
It
was not until Catherine spoke that Sara realized she had spoken those words out
loud, “You have no idea.” And Sara was the first to look away from the glass.
Catherine smiled, enjoying her little victory over the younger woman.
Chapter 38
It
had been a long, trying and productive week for Sara Sidle. She had solved
cases, survived massive restructuring of her personal life and she had finally
made peace with herself and those around her. She was even getting along with
Catherine, and that was an accomplishment for her. Sofia, well, that would have to wait for another life changing moment.
I’m no saint.
Sara
was looking forward to the weekend as she never had before. She desperately
wanted a chance to unwind and get away from the strain of everything
surrounding work this past week. For once in her life, Sara was glad to have
two whole days off from work. She had already informed Dispatch that she was
not to be bothered unless there was not another CSI already on duty before they
even thought about trying to call her in.
Her
plans were moving along perfectly, as they had finished up the case at the
Palms, the Sheriff had handled the final press briefing through the department
spokesperson, and was doing his best to play the whole thing down as much as
possible. She was actually going to get out of the lab a little early tonight.
Once she left she planned to do a little grocery shopping and to stop by the
bookstore to load up on some fluffy magazines to pass the time over the
weekend, and not leave her apartment again until she had to arrive back at the
lab Sunday night. It was before dawn on Friday morning, and she was going to
have more than fourty-eight hours of freedom from anything to do with the lab
and the thought actually held a thrill for Sara for a change.
Her
thoughts of peace and tranquility were interrupted by the breathless arrival of
Warrick into the locker room. “Sara! Thank god I caught you.”
“And
just at that… I was getting ready to leave, why?” Sara stood up and slung her
bag over her shoulder before closing her locker door with a slap.
“I
have a HUGE favor to ask you.” Sara visibly slumped, because she knew that
Warrick had volunteered to take the Saturday night shift. “No, nothing like
that, I’m still workin’ Saturday night… What I need from you is one of those
favors you always hate askin’, but I’m in a serious bind, girl.” Warrick was
being cryptic and Sara was now intrigued. She knew that Warrick would do
anything for her, and she had to admit that the feeling was reciprocated as
well.
“What
do you need, Warrick?” She said with a resigned look playing across her face.
“So,
my girl Tina accepted this invitation for a party tonight, but she got stuck
working, and now she expects me to go alone. Anyway, it’s like this dinner
party thing, so they’re expecting two people.” Sara was in shock at his
request, and she half wondered if she was being setup for a joke, but after the
week she had, she knew Warrick could not be that cruel.
“Dinner
party? I mean, come on, Warrick. Why don’t you ask Catherine or somebody. I’m
not really the dinner party type.” Sara was trying the only thing she could
think of to get out of the favor.
Warrick
just shook his head, “Please, you think Tina wouldn’t lose her grip if I took
Cath? And I already tried to get Nicky to go, but he’s got a date tonight, so
he stood me up.” Sara knew that she was the only other person who could pull
this off for him. She had thrown out the Catherine suggestion as a veiled joke.
She and Nick both knew about Tina’s feelings regarding Catherine, just as they
both knew how Warrick felt about Tina’s ex working in the ER with her: a touchy
subject.
She
shrugged her shoulder, “What do I have to do?”
“Aw,
girl you just saved my skin!” He gave her a quick hug and explained the whole
thing, “I’ll pick you up at six, and it’s fancy, so wear something nice? And
I’m told there’ll be some fine doctors there, so maybe we can get you a real
date?” Warrick flashed a toothy grin at her and gave her a wink.
“Ha
ha… You’re not getting off that easy, Mr. Brown.” She started walking out the
door, as she called back to him, “You owe me big time, buddy.”
Chapter 39
Grissom
was doing his absolute fastest work possible in order to finish his paperwork
for the week. He had spent the last two shifts working side by side with Sara
on the Rape/Homicide case, and had neglected a few things that desperately
needed to be finished before he could leave for the weekend. However, he did
not regret the work that had kept him from his other duties. It had been
surprisingly enjoyable to watch someone else lead through a case, and it was
made even more pleasant by the fact that Grissom was watching Sara come into
her own on the case.
It
had been an exciting and frustrating experience for him. Exciting in that he
was working with Sara and enjoying her company again in a way he had been too
afraid to do in a very long time. He had almost forgotten what a great team
they had once made. They had found that comfort level again, and then Grissom
had to go and mess it up by showing his green-eyed monster. After his epiphany
regarding his relationship with Sara, he concluded that perhaps the educator
Paul Eldridge was right when he said, “Jealousy would be far less torturous if
we understood that love is a passion entirely unrelated to our merits.” Grissom
may not have ever felt truly worthy of her affections, but he had no choice but
to admit that his jealous bone ached whenever he even contemplated her with
someone else. He had finally reached the end of the rope that tied his fears to
him, and he knew without a doubt that the time had come for him to go or get
off the pot. Sara deserves at least that
much.
He
was just getting to the last bit of paperwork he had left and was wondering why
he had started the next evaluation stage for Greg, because it was taking his
precious time away. His time to go and talk to Sara, to try and find some way
to tell her everything that had been going through his head over the last few
weeks, to tell her that he finally knew “what to do about this.” He looked up
just in time to see Sara approaching his door. He was just about to call her
name when Nick came running up beside her and put an arm across her shoulders.
Grissom listened intently to their exchange. It made him feel like a stalker,
but he could not help himself.
“Hey
Sar, whatcha got goin’ on this weekend? Curlin’ up on the couch, eatin’ veggies
and readin’ forensic journals all weekend?” Nick was obviously trying to get a
rise out Sara.
Sara
repayed him with a quick elbow in the ribs which caused him to groan before she
responded his jibe, “For your information, I have a date tonight, Mr. Smart
Guy.”
Grissom
did not hear anymore of the conversation, or notice that both of his CSI’s
waved at him on their way past his door. There was only one thing occupying his
mind at that moment; Timing really is
everything.
When
Catherine hung her head in the door to his office, he did not even notice. She
had to holler his name a couple of times before he was finally ripped out of
his shattered stupor. “Huh?”
“You
need to get that checked again. I’m worried about you.” Catherine came into the
office and sat down opposite of him. When he gave her a puzzled expression she
realized that it was just Grissom being Grissom and lost in his head again,
“Nevermind… Look, I’m on strict orders to make sure you don’t back out of the
party tonight. So, I’ll meet you at your townhouse at five thirty, and we can
ride over together.”
Grissom
shook his head a moment to clear the fog, “Wait, what orders?”
“Steph
and her mom are convinced that you’re gonna chicken out on the party tonight,
so they enlisted me to get you there.” Catherine just shrugged before
continuing, “Anyway, I want to get there early to help Steph and Beth get
things ready, and I bet Thomas could use your help with the table,” Catherine
was on a roll and Grissom struggled to keep up with her machine gun
speech. “So I’ll meet you at five
thirty, and we’ll ride over together, okay?”
Grissom
slowly mulled over the information and then said, “Actually, I was going to
walk over.” He gave her a sideways smirk.
“Ah,
no. My days of walking five or six blocks in a pair of heels are long gone,
Gil. Besides, what happens if one of us gets paged?” Catherine was sure to get
her point across.
Grissom
nodded his head, “Point taken. Is there anything else that is being required of
me this evening?”
Catherine
thought about it a moment and then shrugged, “Nope, not that I can think of.
Just make sure you look good. If I have to show up to a dinner party on your arm, then I want it to make a statement.”
He
bowed his head with another smirk on his face, “I’ll even wash behind my ears.”
Chapter 40
“Am
I glad to see YOU!” Thomas greeted
them at the door with great enthusiasm, and it caused Gil to flush slightly.
He
recovered quickly and made room for Catherine to enter the townhouse, “Well,
there’s a statement I’m not used to.”
Catherine
shimmied past him carrying her punchbowl set, which she would not allow Gil to
so much as touch, “It was bound to happen eventually… Hey, Thomas. Are they in
the kitchen?”
He
shook his head and held out his hands to try and relieve her of the burden,
“Can I-.”
Catherine
quickly pulled it away from his reach and Gil laughed, “Sorry, pal… She’s more
protective of that bowl than she is her kid.”
“The
bowl has been around a lot longer, and would be harder to replace.” They all
had a good laugh and Catherine left the two men in the foyer.
They
both watched her go into the kitchen before Gil had to speak to break the
silence, “So, what can I do?”
Thomas
smacked his forehead with his hand and turned a little red at having to be
reminded what he was doing. Just as he was about to explain, a voice came
calling out of the kitchen, “Hey honey, why don’t you get Uncle Gil to help you
with that table? He has more experience putting together complicated puzzles
than you.”
The
younger man had to shrug an affirmation to Gil, and the men smiled at the humor
of the situation, “Right… I only work with meat puzzles, dear.”
Stephanie
suddenly appeared from the kitchen holding a large knife, “And if you don’t get
the wood puzzle together, you’ll find out just how good I am at disassembling
meat puzzles, Thomas Patrick.”
That
time Thomas cringed, and nodded his head dutifully. When he turned to Gil to
have him follow him into the dining area, the older man had a few words of
advice for him, “You don’t want that demonstration… I’ve seen her work from the
beginning, and even I would have trouble getting all the pieces back in the
general vicinity.” They were both laughing as they entered the dining area to
get started.
The
directions were consulted, the parts were catalogued and a plan of attack was
devised. The entire ordeal took exactly thirty minutes to complete. Which was
the precise amount of time it took for the ladies to arrive at the conclusion
that they needed to get the table set before the first guests were scheduled to
arrive.
Stephanie
inspected their work and declared the scene to be safe for the kitchen crew to
get started. She walked over to Gil and placed a kiss upon his cheek, “Thanks
for helping out, again.” He blushed at the gesture, and then looked down at his
hands.
When
he realized that he was in dire need of some tidying up he excused himself, “I
really should get cleaned up before your guests think ill of my manners.” He
headed off down the hall to the washroom by the back door.
Stephanie
called after him, “Uncle Gil! Use the bathroom at the top of the stairs. Thomas
has his valet thingy in there and you’ll be more comfortable in there anyway.
Not so girly.”
He
turned around and walked back to the kitchen, “Stephie, the washroom is fine.”
“No
seriously, I have that one all set up for the party,” She was speaking very
matter of fact, but Gil was sensing a trap. “And if you go upstairs you can
take your time and not have to worry about being disturbed.”
“Stephanie
Gayle, just what are you cooking up this time?” Gil shot her one of his
patented exaggerated raised eyebrows with his question. Everyone else in the
room stopped in their tracks and held their breath.
“Please…
Like I could get away with anything with all these witnesses. Quit being
paranoid and go make yourself pretty again.” Stephanie was cool and collected,
not even stopping her work to respond to his accusation. “Your hair is all
messed up and you’ve got something in your beard, I just figured it’d be easier
for you to clean up in Thomas’ bathroom. He’s got all that man stuff up there.”
She finally looked up at him and her face was a perfect stone.
“Man
stuff?”
Thomas
had to laugh at that one, “Sorry, she thinks that anything used to promote or
manage what she considers superfluous hair is man stuff, simply because I think
that anything used to remove excess hair in her bathroom is ‘woman stuff.’”
Both of their explanations seemed plausible and Gil relented.
As
he reached the top of the stairs, he was almost certain he heard someone say
something to the effect that they thought they had been caught. There was
something going on in this house tonight, and he figured he was just going to
have to wait and see what it was, since it would appear as though they had gone
to a great deal of trouble to arrange it for him.
Once
inside the bathroom, Gil had to admit that this was a far better choice than
the washroom for cleaning up. And, upon inspecting himself in the mirrors, he
decided that he could use some serious sprucing up. After all, Catherine had
been very specific about him looking good tonight. So, he removed his trousers
and placed them in the steam press portion of the valet and hung his jacket on
the back of the door. When he realized that he would need to wet his hair and
washout the small bit of bolt grease which had gotten into his beard during the
table operation he decided to also remove his dress shirt. After cleaning out
the grease from his silver rich beard, he set about to fix his hair once again.
However, when he raised his arms, he realized that his undershirt bore the
fruits of his labors, as well as the smell. That was when the dilemma hit him,
should he discard the shirt and hope for the best in regards to his dress
shirt, or stick with it and pray the smell was not overpowering. The answer was
given to him when he lowered his nose to inspect the situation more closely. Ditch the undershirt.
There
he stood, in nothing but his skivvies, giving his underarms a quick cleaning to
avoid any other odors escaping. He tossed the undershirt into the waste can and
looked through the cabinets in search of some deodorant that he could borrow.
When he found it at last, he was never so pleased to see a toiletry bag in his
life. He guessed that Thomas kept his things in the bag because of the nature
of his job. Gil was able to keep a small stash of items in his office, but he
figured that the only space a surgery resident would have was a locker. The
tattered nature of the bag also gave him an idea of something to get the young
man for a gift.
Finally,
he was clean, coiffed and presentable; except for the fact that he needed to
get dressed again. He quickly pulled on his shirt, buttoning each button and
replacing the cufflinks which he had managed not to drop in the sink, for a
change. Next came the trousers which were now perfectly pressed again. He
commented to himself that this young man of Stephanie’s at least understood the
value of looking presentable. One of Gil’s greatest pet peeves was to see
someone dressed in a rumpled suit. Was it
really so hard to iron a pair of pants and shirt? Once he was certain his
shirt and trousers were properly aligned, he reached for his tie. That was when
his carefully laid plans had been dashed. It had taken him twenty minutes to
get that knot just right, and in stuffing it into his jacket pocket, he had
knocked it loose.
He
nearly came out of his skin when a knock came to the door, “Uncle Gil? Are you
decent?”
He
heaved a huge sigh after his fright and answered, “I’m dressed, if that’s what
you mean.” He opened the door to find her smiling, “But I’m afraid decent might
be a stretch.”
Stephanie
immediately noticed that his tie was messed up and she took it right off his
neck. “Aw… Well, let me fix it for you.” She finished undoing the tie and then
turned him around, marching him back in front of the bathroom mirror as she
stood behind him. “This was always my favorite part of the day.”
“What
was that, Steph?”
She
threw the tie over his neck and flipped up his collar, “Fixing Pop’s tie in the
morning. When I was maybe five, I would drag a stool into the bathroom to watch
him getting ready for work every morning. We would talk about what I was
reading, what you two were doing,” She brought the two sides of the tie
together at his collar bone and began to tie the knot, “And I would just watch
everything he did. I sat there while he shaved, brushed his teeth, combed his
hair and put on his tie. I think I was six by the time I had become obsessed
with knots. I had Mom show me the knot that Pop used for his tie, and she would
make him sit still so I could practice. One night they both declared that I had
it down perfectly.” Gil was enjoying the moment with just the two of them, and
he enjoyed hearing about her father just as much. “So, after that, I tied his
tie every morning. I would stand up on my stool behind his back and tie it for
him it while he combed his hair. We would have races to see who would finish
first, and I always let him win.” Gil looked into the mirror and saw that
Stephanie’s face had taken on a wistful look to it. “It was my time with Pop.
And I wanted it to last as long as I could. When I moved into the dorms my last
year at Berkeley, Pop called me every morning so that we could talk as I walked
to class every morning and he was getting ready in the bathroom. After a little
while, he said that it just wasn’t the same for him.” She had finished tying
the knot at that point, so she just held onto his shoulders, and Gil would not
have had it any other way. “He said that he missed getting his neck hugs every
morning.” A lone tear made its way down her cheek and Gil was certain his own
were not far behind. “Mom said he wouldn’t take out his ties at night. Every
one had been tied by me, and he was afraid of getting rid of my knots. Told her
they were his lucky knots, because whenever he felt the tie gripping his neck,
he would imagine that it was me, when I was six, hanging onto his back to tie
it for him.” She moved one hand from his shoulder to wipe away the other tears
that joined the first. Gil reached up with one of his hands and gave her a tissue
from the counter, and with the other hand, he crossed his chest and held onto
her remaining hand. “Can you believe that? My Pop was being a sentimental old
fool.”
“When
it came to you, I can believe anything of your father.” Gil was looking at the
mirror, but he was looking into her eyes, and she was glad for it. “I think you
were about six or seven, and you had started putting little notes in the
lunches your mother always sent for me. Your father noticed me reading one of
them one day, and he just laughed. I was, of course, embarrassed. He told me to
treasure those notes, because one day you would grow up and find another man to
pin your hopes and dreams to, and leave her two old fossils behind.” Stephanie
giggled at his words, and it made his heart sing. “I told him that I couldn’t
imagine you ever leaving him, because you were in his every thought and deed of
every day that he was alive, and that because he and your mother were doing
such a good job raising you, that you would feel the same thing.” He turned
around and looked her in the eye before asking his question, “And was I right?”
She nodded her head and that was when the tears fell for both of them and she
fell into his embrace.
They
stayed like that for a few moments, and only broke when Thomas appeared in the
doorway, “Aw, man, did I miss it already?” Stephanie stood up straight and
laughed at his question.
Gil
was confused, but Stephanie reached out for Thomas’ hand and he gave it to her
as he came to stand at her side, “Nope, we were just talking about old times.”
He kissed her tenderly when he pulled her closer to him for support, and Gil
was certain that she had made the right choice. “Uncle Gil, Thomas and I wanted
to ask a huge favor of you. I know Pop is with us all the time, but for this I
need a body. And I know that if there was anyone he would want to take his
place for this, without a doubt, it would be you.” They looked at each other
for reassurance once more before she turned to Gil and took his hand in hers as
she looked pleadingly into his eyes, “Would you please walk me down the aisle
at our wedding?”
He
was not sure quite how it was possible, but he actually felt like the Grinch at
the end of that Dr. Seuss Christmas tale, as his heart grew ten sizes inside
his chest with the joy that he was experiencing at that moment. It was too late
to try and regain some kind of male bravado, because the tears were streaming
down his face as Gil took them both into his arms and embraced them for all he
was worth. Right there, in the bathroom, his life changed forever, and he could
not have been any happier. When they finally broke apart, Stephanie just had to
ask, “Do I take that as a yes?”
Gil
shook his head, still working up the brain power to form words, and when they
came, it was pure gold, “No, you can take that as a Hell Yeah!” They all
laughed, and his smile was so infectious that there was nothing holding any of
them back from the pure joy of the situation.
That
was how Catherine found them. “Okay, so obviously everyone is happy, but poor
Beth and I have no idea who we just let into your house. So maybe we can move
this little smile fest downstairs?”
Thomas
was the first to separate, “I’ll head down… You two clean up that mess and join
us as fast as you can.”
Stephanie
quickly looked at her reflection in the mirror and found only a small tear
trail that she easily wiped away, “Good thing I’m low maintenance… And that Mom
made me wear the waterproof mascara tonight.”
“That
Beth; always prepared.” They shared another laugh and Gil grabbed his jacket
from behind the door, but before he could put it on, Stephanie turned and took
it from him.
“Come
on, you know it’s easier when someone holds it out for you when you got cufflinks
on.” He nodded and turned to allow her to assist him. Once the jacket was on,
she smoothed out the shoulders and turned him around to do the same to the
lapels. “You always did strike a handsome pose in a suit, Uncle Gil.”
As
she straightened his tie, he took one more look at her, “And you are striking
no matter what you have on, Princess. But this sentimental old fool is looking
forward to seeing you in that wedding dress next week.” He buttoned his jacket
and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. When he turned and stepped out of the
bathroom, he stopped in the hallways and held out his arm, “Shall we join the
party?”
She
could not believe how happy that little scene had made her, but she knew that
she would soon be repaying her uncle in spades. Or at least, she hoped
everything they had done worked out for him.
Chapter 41
Sara
was beginning to think that this had probably been the worst idea she had had
in a very long time. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and found that
she barely recognized the woman she saw there, and washed her face clean for
the third time. If she kept it up this way, she wouldn’t have any skin left on
her face by the time Warrick got there. She applied a small amount of
moisturizer and added a touch of blush over it, then just a dab of lip gloss,
and finally she took out the mascara. She was not trying to impress anyone, but
she also did not want to look like she did not belong. Sara took one last look
in the mirror and decided that her face was now presentable and actually looked
like herself as well.
She
walked back into the bedroom and looked at her full reflection in the mirror
out there. She had finally decided on a dress, and after completely emptying
her closet onto her bed, she ended up choosing the first dress she had tried on
that afternoon. It always works out that
way. The dress looked almost black under the light in her room, but in the
right light it shimmered a rich burgundy. She had fallen in love with two color
silks a long time ago, but she had to admit this one was probably her favorite.
The spaghetti straps highlighted the sleek lines of her neck and collar bones,
and the low swoop in the back always made her feel like she could be just a little
glamorous. The hem was flowing and cut just above her knees, and gave her a
very free feeling when she wore it. However, she was having trouble remembering
the last time she had worn it. Has it
really been that long since I went out?
When
the doorbell went off, she grabbed her chest and then looked at her watch. Damn! Despite her best efforts, she was
running late, and Warrick had already arrived. She glanced once more at her
self as she reached down to retrieve her shoes. “Guess the hair will have to
do. Hopefully I can get these on in the car.”
She
was holding her hand bag and a shawl in one hand, and her strapped heels in the
other when she opened the door onto a pleasantly surprised Warrick. “Damn,
girl! You clean up good.”
Sara
instantly blushed at his comment, “If I wasn’t such a wreck, I might appreciate
that.”
Warrick
looked her up one side and down the other, “If that’s a wreck, I’d be afraid to
see what you look like when you’re on… My marriage might be in more trouble.”
He winked at her with his comment.
Sara
gave him a playful slap on the arm, “Quit teasing. How much time do we have?”
Warrick
looked at his watch before he answered, “We got time. Go put your shoes on,
Miss Thing.”
Sara
heaved a sigh and did just that. She was grateful for the moment to collect
herself. “So, Warrick… Is this like a hospital party or something? I mean, am I
going to be at some big fancy place and feel about so big?”
Warrick
slapped away her comment in the air, “Nah, it’s at somebody’s townhouse. And
it’s just a few people, so that’s why I couldn’t back at the last minute. Plus,
Tina might come by later if she can find somebody to cover for her. Took her
dress and all to work.” Warrick laughed at the memory of his wife toting all of
that junk to work, as he was busy looking around Sara’s apartment. “So, you
cleanin’ out your closets, or what?” He asked when he spied the massive pile of
clothes through the open bedroom door.
“A
gentleman wouldn’t have noticed.” She stuck her tongue out at him.
“I
don’t think ladies do that either.” He moved away from the door and took a seat
in the chair beside her.
“Well,
I never said I was a lady. Of course, I also don’t really fall into the broad
category either, that sounds more like-.”
“Catherine.”
They both laughed at themselves having the same thought.
“Oh
well, at least she’s a good broad.” What Sara wanted to say was that there were
some bad ones around the lab as well; Sofia. But Sara was trying to turn over a
new leaf, and if Sofia wanted to make a fool of herself around Grissom, then
she would just stand back and watch the fireworks when they happened. Sara knew
Sofia was playing with fire in that respect, and despite her best efforts to
cut the woman some slack, Sara just did not have any use for her.
Warrick
watched as Sara fastened the last strap of her shoe and stood up to offer her a
hand, “Ready now?” She took the hand and rose from the couch with a grace that
Warrick could not remember noticing before. He held her back so that he could
get one more look at her, “Lookin’ like that, we’re sure to find you some hot
doctor action tonight.” Sara blushed again and gave him another playful tap
before wrapping the shawl around her bare shoulders.
She
tucked her hand bag under her arm and held up her chin, “All ready to go.”
They
walked out to the car and proceeded to head out for their big night. As much as
Sara hated to admit, she was already having fun. Warrick’s favor may have been
just the thing she needed to break free from the bonds of her rut. And she
figured the worse thing that might come of it would be another night out with a
doctor from Desert Palms. They had to be
an improvement over cheating paramedics.
Warrick
was sure to keep her occupied with small talk the whole way over to the party.
He figured that if he kept her talking she might never put the whole thing
together before they got there. Because once they were at the party, there
would be no turning back.
When
they arrived, he was pleasantly surprised to find a parking spot fairly close
to the house. He assumed that some of the people had carpooled over from the
hospital which was fairly close to the place. He got out of the car and trotted
over to her side of the car to help her out and found her opening the door.
“Hey, you can’t get a guy to be a gentleman if you do it for him.” He winked at
her with his comment.
“Sorry,
I forgot. I guess the dress should have been my first clue.” She took the hand
that he offered her and he helped to lift her out of the car. Her footing was a
little wobbly at first, because her heels sunk into the ground, but they
quickly moved to the concrete and all was well. As they neared the door, Sara
took a deep and calming breath, and then released it slowly.
“They’re
just like us, so there’s nothing to be nervous about, Sar.” He smiled in that
smooth way of his and Sara felt much better when they reached the door and
Warrick pressed the button for the bell.
When
the door opened, a very tall and well built man with soft brown hair answered
the door. The smile on his face was accentuated by the full goatee he wore and
Sara instantly felt welcome, “’Rick! You made it! Come on in, bro.” The man
gestured for them to come into the townhouse. “I see you found a replacement
for Tina.” The man put a hand on Warrick’s shoulder in a gesture of friendship
and comfort, “I was sorry to hear she couldn’t get out of her shift, but when
she called this afternoon to tell me you were bringing a friend, you made my
day, man. So, who do we have here?” The man turned to Sara and offered her his
hand.
“Thomas,
this is Sara Sidle, a friend from work. Sara, this-.”
Thomas
interrupted him before he could finish his introduction, “THIS is the infamous Sara Sidle?” He looked incredulously at
Warrick and then back at Sara. Instead of waiting for her to take his hand, he
took hers in his and turned it up to kiss the back of it. “It is an honor… I
have heard quite a few stories about you since I’ve been in Vegas. It’s nice to
get a face to the name.” He looked between them both again, “And it is a lovely
face, at that.” It was too much for Sara and she shied away from his praise as
she felt her cheeks warm with her blush.
She
was not sure what to say to the man, because although his words might have
sounded like flirting, she could tell that they were not meant that way.
“Thomas, is it? I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage.”
The
man showed his apology on his face and then he spoke it, “I am so sorry…” He
bowed his head slightly before he continued, “Dr. Thomas O’Halloran, trauma
surgeon, co-worker to Tina, drinking buddy, and your host this evening. Welcome
to my home!”
Warrick
was laughing at the whole scene. With everything going on around them, Thomas
was devoting his full attention to the woman he had been hearing talked about
(and plotted against) for the last two weeks, as though there was nothing else
going on. “And more full of blarney than any Irishman I’ve met before. Sara,
don’t listen to a thing ole Tommyboy has to say. I think he took a few too many
hits without his helmet on.” Warrick winked at her to let Sara know that he was
joking around.
Thomas
laughed a big hearty laugh, “Ha! Truer words may nar’ been spoken, mi’lad!” His
fake Irish accent made Sara giggle just a bit. “Hey, can I get you guys some
drinks? We’re still on the cocktail hour for a bit longer.”
Sara
held up her hand to show she was not interested, “No thank you, I’m good.”
“Cool,
but I know my man ‘Rick is looking for a beer, right?” Thomas pointed at
Warrick in an almost comical gesture.
“You
twisted my arm.” Thomas disappeared into the small gathering in front of what
Sara assumed was the kitchen for only a moment and quickly returned with an
armful of bottled beer.
“Beer
for you… But only one.” He nudged Sara slightly, “You know this guy is a
lightweight, right?” He winked at Sara before continuing on his path through
the living room to deliver his load of beer around the room.
Once
they were alone, Sara had to ask, “Hey, what stories are you and Tina telling
about me?”
Warrick
leaned back to laugh at her paranoia, “Don’t sweat it… Thomas just likes to
talk smack.”
She
breathed a little easier knowing that it was more of a joke than a reality, and
so Sara started looking around the room. She saw a few familiar faces, but only
because she spent a lot of time at the hospital on various cases. Before she
had a chance to seriously examine her surroundings, someone at the other end of
the living room was calling for everyone’s attention.
“All
right you animals… SHUT UP!” The room became oddly quiet, considering the
number of people milling around it. “Okay, now… My man Thomas has something to
say, so listen up. It may be the last time he’s allowed to talk.” Everyone in
the room laughed and Sara assumed it was some kind of joke known only to those
in their circle. From the laughter coming out of Warrick, Sara figured he was
part of that circle.
“Thank
you… And I’ll be looking for a new best man after that comment, Carter.” Again
the room erupted into laughter. “Okay seriously, I wanted to thank everyone for
coming tonight. I know we did a fine job of blowing everyone away by pushing up
the whole wedding thing, and I really appreciate all of you being such good
sports about it. Most of all, my future mother-in-law…” He stopped to look
around the room. “Tell those women to get out of the kitchen, I’m talking about
‘em.” The laughter started up again and Sara thought she saw a familiar
strawberry blonde head bobbing out of the kitchen, but she figured her eyes
must have been playing tricks on her.
When
she saw two other heads come out of the kitchen, Thomas continued, “There they
are! Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone for being so understanding about this
whole wedding thing. We’ve been together for so long now, and we’re both so
caught up in work and such that it just seemed silly to have some big fancy
wedding that neither of us ever really wanted in the first place. We looked at
our schedules and we realized that everyone we cared about was going to be in
the same place at the same time, and we might as well take advantage of it.”
There were several chuckles dispersed around the room as Sara continued to
survey the faces she could see. There were still a few heads on the other side
of the room that she could not see their faces, but she decided dinner would
probably fix that. “So, if you’ll all raise your drinks. I’d like to make two
toasts… The first one is to all of you. We are truly blessed to have you in our
lives, and with your continued love and support, my beautiful bride and I will
live long and relatively happy lives together. To our friends!”
Everyone
raised their drinks and gave a traditional Irish toast, “Slainche!”
After
everyone had taken their drink, Thomas started again, “And for my second toast…
I want you all to know that I am fully aware of what a damn lucky bastard I am
to have won the heart of the most amazing woman to ever walk this earth of
ours. As many of you know, I have never had anything easy in life. I have
worked my ass off for everything I ever got. I’m not a genius, but I study and
work hard to keep a well oiled machine between my ears. There has been only one
thing in my life that came easy, and that was my love for this woman…” He stood
up on his toes a moment, “This woman who is now hiding behind her mother… Mom,
would you push her out this way please?” Sara tried very hard to see what was
going on over in the corner, but her vantage point would just not allow it.
“Here
she comes.” The voice Sara heard was matured, so she assumed it was the mother.
And then she watched as the small crowd on that side of the room parted for the
arrival of the bride.
“Finally!”
Sara was almost on her toes as she attempted to see the woman in question. When
she finally bounded through the last of the people amassed near the kitchen her
jaw hit the floor like a ton of bricks. Her brain went off in about ten
thousand different directions trying to wrap itself around the bombshell
identity of the woman now standing in the center of the room; locked hand in hand
with the charming doctor Sara had just met.
“What,
you think they’ll miss me?” The auburn haired beauty standing at the center of
the room joked with her fiancé, “It’s like missing the giraffe in a sea of
prairie dogs.” Everyone in the room laughed at her obvious joke, but Sara did
not hear a sound. All she could hear were the words of every conversation she
had had or heard over the last few weeks being replayed in her mind. She was
getting dizzy with the volume of information that was flooding her senses at
that moment. It took Warrick putting a friendly hand on her shoulder to steady
her to wake her from her epiphany just in time to hear the rest of the speech.
“Well,
I just wanted to make sure I told everyone… I love this woman more than I
thought was humanly possible, and believe it or not, she was the easiest thing
I’ve ever had in my life.”
The
man who had quieted the crowd before interrupted, “Which just shows you how
much his life sucked before she came along.” The room erupted into laughter.
“You
can be replaced.” Thomas punched the man in the arm and then continued, “When I
met Stephanie I knew, without a doubt that this was the most amazing woman I
had ever met. And once I got to know her, I knew that there could never be
anyone else for me. But it wasn’t until I passed inspection that I knew I
wouldn’t lose her. Before I got to meet the family, she once told me that she
could never be with someone that her family didn’t like. So, when I heard they
were coming to L.A. for some conference, I thought for sure our relationship
was doomed. I was just a lucky jock, who’d managed keep his brain pan from
getting rattled too bad to make it into med school. She was this genius
wunderkind, of these really smart and successful people. I was sunk.” He looked
into Stephanie’s eyes and she actually appeared to melt a little, but she took
his hand and held it to her heart to give him the courage to continue. “I made
it through that whole visit without breathing. For three days. When they left,
I thought for sure it had been a nightmare. They had barely talked to me, and
Steph left to take them to the airport. When she got back I figured it would be
over. Instead, she sat down with me on the balcony of my apartment and watched
the sunset. In my addled brain I thought she was just looking for a good way to
break it off, instead she put her head on my shoulder and sighed, and then she
said ‘I’ve never seen Uncle Gil take to someone so fast… You must be the one.’”
Sara
was instantly plunged into a vacuum, and all the air was torn right out of her
lungs. She desperately tried to focus her eyes, but the lack of oxygen was
making it impossible. She did the only thing she could, she kept listening. “I
made up my mind right then and there, I was going to spend my life with this
woman, and that’s exactly what I did. Asked her to marry me at Thanksgiving
right there in front of her parents and the infamous Uncle Gil. To say I was
nervous is probably the understatement of the century, but for this one,”
Thomas held Stephanie closer to him, “I’d walk through the desert naked… And
proposing within a hands’ breadth of her father and uncle was pretty much the
same thing.”
Sara’s
breathing had returned, but her mind was awash in the flood of memories that
poured over her; of Grissom and Stephanie arriving in his car, of that phone
call in the morgue, of the Chinese food in the Break Room. Every one a horrible
misunderstanding by Sara and every one a cause for her steps further away from
Grissom. When the sound of a familiar voice penetrated her mind, she lost all
the air again, “Now, be honest… We weren’t that bad.” Grissom is here!
Thomas
laughed and the crowd joined him. He then motioned for Gil to join them in the
center of attention, “I’ll admit only that there was no bloodshed, but I still
felt like you were both going to kill me at any second.”
“Don’t
think the thought never crossed our minds.” The room erupted into hail of
guffaws at Gil’s joke, but all Sara could do was stare at him like a deer
caught in the headlights. As soon as it registered to her that he was there,
and what everything meant, she started to panic. The only thought going through
her mind at that moment was that she had to get out of there before Grissom saw
her. She blinked her eyes and finally looked away from the trio in the center
of the room. Sara looked to Warrick who was clapping his hands for Grissom’s
joke, and so she saw her opportunity to escape unnoticed. She slipped back to
the door and had her hand on the knob when she heard Grissom’s voice again, and
she found herself paralyzed waiting for his words.
“Besides,
this is a speech, not a toast.” He turned to take a glass from Catherine, who
had made her way up from the back of the room, “I would like to make a toast.”
Everyone raised their glasses and no one was paying attention to the trembling
woman at the door. “For many years filled with happiness and love, may you
share it all for the rest of your lives together with grace and compassion: to
Thomas and Stephanie.” Everyone repeated their names and drank in their honor.
Sara was finally released from her paralysis and bolted out the front door. She
had no idea where she was going, but she had to get out of there before her
head exploded with everything that was rushing in on her at that moment.
Chapter 42
After
the toast everyone started to mill about again, which gave Grissom the chance
to confirm what his eyes had told him; Sara
is here! He craned his neck to glance over in that corner of the room again
and when that proved unsuccessful he tried to make his way over there. He was
stopped by Catherine, who looked as though she was trying to figure out what he
was searching for, “Gil, what on earth are you looking for?”
He
only half heard her, because his focus was on solving a mystery, “Huh?”
“What
are you looking at? The only thing I see is Warrick talking to the guys over
there.” Catherine was playing it cool, but Gil was too preoccupied to suspect
the intention of her question.
He
shook his head as he answered, “Well, maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me,
but I could have sworn I saw Sara over there.”
Catherine
played it off as nothing, “Oh yeah, Tina got stuck at work so Sara bailed
Warrick out.” It was time for Catherine to go in for the kill, she turned to head
towards the kitchen and shot back, “You see her everyday, Gil… What’s so
special about tonight?” Catherine was not sure he had actually heard all that
she had to say, because when she glanced back, he was already half way across
the room and headed on a beeline for the door. She had a good laugh and went
back to help Stephanie and Beth in the kitchen.
As
Gil was about to make it to the door, he was stopped by Thomas, “Hey Gil, I
wanted to introduce you, formally, to my best man.” Gil halted his progress and
tried to focus on the introduction, but his mind was already outside. “Carter
Wilbanks, this is Steph’s Uncle Gil. You might say Carter is the reason me and
Steph got together.” The two men shared their private joke.
“Nice
to meet you, Carter.” He searched his brain for an excuse to get away from the
party, “I’m terribly sorry, but I’ve got a page and I need to respond. Do you
mind?”
Thomas
patted him on the shoulder, “Hey, don’t sweat it. We’re one pile-up away from
having to clear the room… We understand the page thing.” All three men nodded
their heads, and Gil took out his pager to make himself less conspicuous as he
left through the front door.
“Kind
of jumpy, ain’t he?” Carter asked his friend.
Thomas
shook his head and laughed, “Nah, he’s just not used to crowds like this… He’s
a pretty quiet guy. Basically, the polar opposite of Steph at a party.” The two
men laughed, slapped each other’s backs and moved back into the party.
Once
outside, Gil scanned the area trying to detect some movement. He could not
imagine that she had pushed her way through the crowd to hide in the bathroom,
so that left him with outside. The look he had seen on her face as he was
making his toast frightened him. She looked so lost, and the only other times
he had seen that look on her face had nearly killed him: after the lab
explosion, and after she was attacked in the psychiatric hospital. Gil would
not be able to live with himself if he did not reach out to her when she was in
that state. I just wish I knew what it
was about. Gil was also back tracking in his mind to the scene he witnessed
outside his office that morning. She had told Nick she was going on a date, and
Gil had jumped to the wrong conclusion. His doubts of self-worth had caused
that lapse of sanity, and he decided right then and there that if it was the
last thing he did, he would never let doubt steal away anything ever again. He
needed to find Sara and finally tell her everything. He owed her that. I owe her a lot more than that.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The
moment Sara had breached the door, her tears had started to flow down her face.
It was all too much for her to deal with. Grissom
was her UNCLE! How fucking stupid could I be?! She was angry at herself for
having punished him for her own stupidity; her own blindness. She never had the
nerve to actually talk to the man about the new girl in the lab. Hell, I can barely talk to him about the
weather without losing my grip! Sara replayed every exchange that had
passed between them since Stephanie’s arrival, and she realized that every
single time she had been hurt, she had hurt herself. Grissom had been nothing
but open and caring with her through the whole stupid ordeal. She had brought
it all on herself because she was too blinded by her own jealously to see the
truth.
When
she looked up, she realized that she was standing out in the open for anyone to
witness her falling completely apart, so she started searching for a place to
hide out until she could pull herself together. Right, like that could happen in this lifetime! She moved away from
the front door and found a little niche next to the shrubs. She thought it was
the perfect place. She could not see the front door, so she assumed she was
safe and she began to weep openly.
“How
could I have been so stupid?!” She finally spoke the words aloud, and her sobs
masked the sounds of approaching footsteps. She reached into her handbag,
hoping to find some tissues in there, but after several passes inside the bag,
she slapped it down against her side, only to find a handkerchief waiting for
her as she looked up. She froze instantly. Sara was paralyzed with fear. She
could not bring herself to take the handkerchief and she was even more afraid
to see who the owner was, but she could feel him standing just behind her. She
could sense his presence there, like a warm blanket, but she knew that if she
looked at him, she would never be able to hold it together.
It
seemed like an eternity, but finally he spoke, “It’s clean.” He was close
enough to her that she could feel his breath on her shoulder as he spoke and
her mind reeled from the sensation.
Sara
forced herself to speak, “Thank you.” She took the handkerchief, but did not
turn to look at him, and she wiped the streams of tears from her face before
handing it back.
He
pursed his mouth and shrugged, “You can keep it… I have another.”
Sara
thought to herself; Of course you do.
Such a boy scout.
“Sara,
are you okay?”
His
words were still dancing across her shoulder and it made it even harder for her
to focus enough to even breathe, let alone speak. She drew in a breath, and
then another, and then she found the strength to speak, “It’s nothing.”
He
tilted his head and moved around to get a better look at her, “Sara, you
crying, is never ‘nothing.’”
She
could not help herself, a laugh escaped her lungs. “Yeah… Maybe you’re right.”
She would not look up. She could not look into those deep pools on his face.
She was sure it would be her undoing.
She
could tell he was trying to size up the situation, and when he spoke again, she
knew that he was just being himself, “So, I was pretty surprised to see you in
there. I heard you and Steph were having some kind of trouble.” He paused when
she held her breath at his statement, “You want me to talk to her? I know she
can be a little brash for some people, but she really does mean well.”
Sara
shook her head and worked up the courage to speak again, “It’s nothing, really…
Just a-.” Could she say it? “It was just a misunderstanding. We’ve already
cleared the air.”
“That’s
good…Can’t have my favorite people at each other’s throats.”
Sara
could not help herself; she popped her head up and looked straight into his
eyes when he said those words. Was her mind playing tricks on her? She
immediately knew the answer when she saw the side of his mouth curl up into
that adorable smirk of his. She was about to make a comment, but he beat her to
the punch.
“Sara,
I’m actually glad you came tonight… There’s um, well, there’s something that
I’ve ah… Well, that I’ve been wanting to talk to you about?” His speech was
stunted and Sara was growing more afraid with every word.
“Maybe
this isn’t the best time.” There it was; there was the out. Sara gave him the
perfect opportunity to back away and forget about this whole thing. Why do I always do that?! “I mean, there
is a party going on in there.”
He
looked up and towards the house, “Yeah, but that’s not about me.” There was a
faraway look in his eyes that Sara was trying to pin down when she had seen it
before. “I need to do this, before-…” That was when it suddenly dawned on her
when she had seen that look before: the interrogation room with Lurie. “Before
it’s too late.” Once again, all the air left Sara’s lungs. If this kept up, she
was sure she was going to pass out before long.
His
gaze suddenly dropped to his feet and he absently took a step towards her. She
was hypnotized by the display and found herself being pulled towards him by
some invisible magnetic energy. They were standing with barely an inch
separating them. Their breaths were mixing in the same air space. Sara could
not believe what was going through her mind or what her body was screaming for
her to do. She was sure that she felt waves of similar energy washing off of
him and the heat from his body was reaching out to her in that small space
between them. She was about to lose complete control and there was nothing
telling her it was wrong. When he drew in a slow, deep breath, she finally
snapped. Time had slowed to a ridiculous crawl and it took an eternity for her
handbag to plummet to the ground as she bridged that seemingly vast distance
between them. Her left hand was the first to make the interminable journey of a
single inch to rest on his shoulder. It caused him to raise his head in a slow
motion scene that also found Sara’s body closing the distance to his body. When
the bag finally hit the ground, her lips were just touching his, and that was
when the entire world crashed down around them and time stood still in that
moment.
Her
mind exploded into a million pieces at once, and she was not sure what was
holding her up at that point, because all conscious thought vanished in the
instant that they finally met. She was desperately trying to regain her conscious
mind, because she wanted to remember this moment for the rest of her life. She
was not sure it would ever happen again and she never wanted to lose it.
When
time finally found its foothold once more, all of Sara’s doubts were thrown to
the wind. What she found in that instant was that her kiss was being returned
with a passion she had only ever read about, and she fought for the air that
would allow her to remain conscious and still able to continue their fevered
embrace. Soon, it was Sara’s passion that took hold and she was suddenly aware
that she had just knocked him backwards into wall behind them, but her mouth
never broke from their embroiled and animalistic kissing. As her lungs burned
in their need for oxygen she finally gasped for air, and she was dropped back
into the torrent of their desire when he took the opportunity to touch his lips
to her shapely neck. She fought to hold on to the sheer bliss that was surging
through her veins in that deliciously sensual moment. As the air was rapidly
flowing in and out of her lungs with each gasp, she realized that she was
pressed against him tightly, but that she would not have been able to move,
even if she had wanted to, because his strong arms were wrapped tightly around
her back and shoulders. She could feel every one of his nimble fingers as they
stroked her flesh, and she was not sure if she could ever separate from him
again. She was completely lost in the waves of pure joy and pleasure that were
crashing through her in that moment, and her desire became an overpowering
force once more and she reached out for his face once more and claimed his
mouth again and again in her lust to possess him completely.
They
probably would have gone on like that forever, but then the lights from a
passing car played across their bodies and the wall they were pressed up
against. The sudden knowledge of their exposure out in the open caused them
both to break their impassioned embrace. They were both gasping for air and
chuckled at their current states.
With
all the tension of six years of emotional and sexual frustration falling away
from her, Sara was the first to speak, “You were saying?” When he let loose
with a hearty laugh, she buried her face into his shoulder and giggled.
He
held her close to him and rested his head against hers for a moment before
speaking, “Well, obviously we can’t stay here.” His words blew across her ear
and she was filled with the undeniable urge to kiss him again.
As
her desire was threatening to take her control again, she finally pulled away.
“No, we can’t. But I don’t know if we can leave either.” Her eyes met his and
she could see her own yearning being reflected back at her. She knew in that
moment that he was feeling the same things she was, and it melted her heart.
Sara broke their gaze, for fear her resolve would melt alongside her heart, and
looked toward the party. “I think we might be missed.”
He
tilted his head forward and rested his forehead against her head, “Probably…”
He paused, and Sara thought for sure he was going to retreat back into his own
head again, “But that’s their problem.” For the umpteenth time that evening
Sara found herself completely without air. She stood there, locked forehead to
forehead with a man she was not entirely certain she knew as well as she
thought she did. “Sara, I need to take care of this, and I’m-… Well, I’m af-… I
mean, if I wait, then I’m afraid-…”
“Of
what’ll happen?” Upon hearing her words he slumped against her, and rested his
head on her shoulder. She knew without a doubt in her mind that he was
experiencing all the same things that she was feeling; that they were both
reaching a crossroads and nothing would ever be the same.
“Sara…
Come with me?” She was not sure if that was a question, a command, a request or
a plea. “Please?”
At
that moment, she would have done anything he asked of her. She wrapped her arms
around his neck and pulled his head to her breast, stroking his hair as she
spoke, “Just say the word… I can’t… I can’t resist anymore.”
He
looked up into her eyes and said the words she never thought she would hear,
“I’m not asking you to.”
Chapter 43
Stephanie
was putting the last of the food onto the platters as Thomas rounded everyone
up and moved them to the table. She was aided by Catherine and her mother and
they were working wonderfully together. Stephanie could not recall a night when
everything had gone off with so few hitches. She and Thomas had taken care of
their talk with Gil with a minimum of tears. Father Wilhelm had managed to tear
himself away from the rectory long enough to join them for dinner. Catherine
had agreed to stand up for her alongside her mother with a maximum of tears
(but that had been factored into the equation). But most of all, Warrick had
successfully gotten Sara to join them for dinner. Stephanie was not sure what
he had said to pull that off, but she was going to thank him no matter.
Following
her conversations with Catherine and Warrick, Stephanie was certain that her
suspicions regarding her uncle and Sara were dead on accurate. She had spent
years listening to him regale her father with stories about the talented young
woman, and when she finally had the opportunity to meet her, she was horribly
disappointed with the way she had behaved. Helluva
first impression, Poindexter, she thought to herself. Her father had worked
with the woman on a few cases when she was with the San Francisco Police
Department, and had confirmed to Gil that she was indeed first rate. Her mother
had her own theories about Gil’s choices in companions, but Stephanie felt she
knew her uncle better than anyone; possibly even better than he did. Even
though their first meeting was less than ideal, she could tell right away that
Sara Sidle was exactly what her uncle needed. She was smart, she did not back
down from a fight and she was strong. Stephanie instantly felt that her
strength was probably her best quality, along with her courage. She knew that those were two things Gil would
need in a relationship more than most anything, because his fear would sap him
of both things and his partner would need to have some to spare. Stephanie
knew, without a doubt, that Sara was that person. The only thing left to do was
to convince the two parties in question of that fact.
When
Catherine came in for another armload, Stephanie motioned for her to come
closer, “Hey, can you snag Uncle Gil for me? I need to talk to him a sec.”
“No
can do, Thelma,” was Catherine’s only response.
“Wait,
I thought you were Thelma?” They both laughed at the comment, but Stephanie
continued. “Seriously, I’m not the one after the hot younger guy… Mine is
older, so that makes me Louise.”
Catherine
scrunched up her face as she hoisted one of the platters from the counter,
“What hot youn-…”
“Hey
ladies, can I lend a hand?” Warrick stepped into the kitchen to assist them in
transporting the food and would have been hard pressed not to notice the looks
that passed between them. “I don’t even wanna know… Just gimme somethin’ to
carry.” They both laughed at his discomfort and the timing of his entrance. He
took the platter from Catherine and went into the dining area.
Catherine
shook her head at Stephanie, who was still laughing, “You are soooo bad.”
“Truth
hurts… But seriously, I need to talk to Uncle Gil, can you go grab him please?”
Catherine
took the remaining bowls and shook her head again, “Nope… He left.”
“WHAT?!”
Stephanie nearly dropped the bowl she was holding when she heard Catherine’s
answer. “You were supposed to make sure he stuck around. How’re we-…”
Catherine
shushed her quickly, “Calm down… He didn’t leave alone.” That time Stephanie
was struck dumb by the answer. “And according to Warrick… We can stop worrying
about your uncle.”
The
only thing that Stephanie could think to say was, “Go Uncle Gil.”
Her
mother chose that moment to re-enter the kitchen, “Oh honey, I forgot to tell
you… Gil had to leave. He and that other girl from your work got a call or
something and had to leave in a hurry.”
“You
saw him?” Stephanie was shocked that her mother had noticed anything.
“Well,
yes… He was getting into his car around back when I took the trash out to the
bin. Nearly gave the man a heart-attack, to boot.” Her mother went about her
business getting a few things from the counter before turning back around to
leave again, “Oh, and he wanted to make sure one of us could drive Catherine
home tonight, but I told him that wouldn’t be a problem.”
Catherine
bumped Stephanie with her hip, “Home? Funny that he would say that.”
Stephanie
was confused, “Why?”
“Because
my car is sitting out in front of his place right now.”
They
were both silent for a few moments before Stephanie finally broke their quiet
contemplation of the events that had transpired, “So, do you want to borrow my
car this weekend?”
Chapter 44
The
fear had gripped his soul when he had nearly stumbled over Elizabeth as he made
his way around the car after helping Sara in (and stealing just one more kiss).
His mind played over a thousand different nightmares in an instant, worrying
over what she must be thinking of him. Gil was certain that he must have been
white as a sheet based on the reaction she had upon seeing him. But he was
completely shocked by his next reaction; So
what? He made a polite excuse to her, saying that they had been called away
and did not wish to disturb the party. Gil then asked if she would explain it
to Stephanie and Thomas with his apologies, as well as asking her for someone
to make sure Catherine got home all right. She had assured him that it would
all be just fine, and he should not worry about it. And to his great surprise,
he was not worried in the slightest.
When
they had pulled away, Sara just sat there with a sideways smirk on her face. He
kept looking over at her and trying to figure out what was going through her
mind as they started their journey. As they approached the edge of the drive
and he was about to turn left to take them to the highway, Sara reached over
and put her hand on his forearm, sending an electric shiver through his whole
body. Damn! How does she do that?
“Where
are you headed?” The look in her eyes melted his heart instantly.
In
his slightly melty state, he was not quite sure where he was going, “I ah, well,
to be-… I have no idea.” They both giggled at his admission, but as was
normally the case, she was the one to take the initiative.
“Well,
if you don’t mind the suggestion… Isn’t your place just a few blocks away?” The
implication of her tone stoked the fires in his soul and made his heart all the
more liquid. “I mean, if we’r-…”
“I
know what you meant.” He flipped the turn signal to the other direction and
pushed the accelerator.
Before
he had his epiphany earlier in the week, he would have been in the throws of
panic and intense fear at what they were suggesting, but at that moment he was
having trouble even touching that part of his psyche. It was almost as though
every fiber of his being was calling out to him in concert in order to tell him
one thing: YES!
He
only lived five blocks from his goddaughter and her fiancé, but they had become
the five longest blocks of his entire life. He focused all of his energy on
paying attention to the road, and not looking towards the passenger seat. Not
looking at her slender legs all the way up to the hem of her dress. Not
noticing the way her dress changed colors in the light. Not paying any
attention to the way it formed to her body perfectly, but was still loose
enough to look delicate. Not once casting a glance on her bare shoulders where
he would surely see the light dusting of freckles that accentuated her
otherwise ivory complexion. Not gazing on her silhouetted profile, where he
could see her shapely neck in the streetlights. Not… Who am I kidding? If we don’t get to my house soon I’m going to wreck
this car.
Never
in his life had he ever been so happy to see the street sign on the end of his
block. When he turned the corner, he chanced one more look at his passenger,
hoping she had not noticed his discomfort while driving. When his eyes met
hers, he saw the limitless possibilities this night was going to mean for the
both of them, and he smiled. Not a smirk, or a crooked smile, but a full blown,
toothy white smile. And she blushed, as though she was also seeing the things
that were running through his mind at that very moment, and he truly felt that
she was never more beautiful than when she was blushing.
As
they pulled up in front of his townhouse and parked in his spot, something
caught her eye and she turned to him in a panic. He looked beside the car to
see what had caused such a reaction and that was when he knew; Catherine’s car
was still here. She would know instantly, and he was going to have to deal with
that, but more importantly, he was worried about the reaction of the woman
seated beside him right then. He reached out and placed his hand on her
shoulder, and again the electricity of touching her surged through to his very
core. He took a deep breath as she looked once more into his eyes. In those
eyes, he saw fear, and it broke his heart, “Sara, it’s okay.”
“But
wha-…”
“I
don’t care about that… Just you.” The words came out so effortlessly that time,
and he was not sure where they had come from or why he was not so afraid any
longer. He just knew that he could not bear to keep himself apart from her for
another moment. Timing is everything.
He
could tell his words had hit their mark with her when he saw those unbelievably
amazing lips of hers pursed into that quirky little grin he had admired for
such a long time. He decided to take another risk and ask her a question,
“Would you like to come inside?”
Her
grin instantly changed into a sultry smile, “I thought you’d never ask.” He
wasted no time in questioning her further and leapt from the driver’s seat as
he tried to make it to the other side of the car before she attempted to exit.
And he almost missed his chance to be the gentleman, as she had already opened
the door and swung around in her seat, but he arrived just in time to take her
hand and help her out of the car. When her feet made contact with the ground,
she wobbled just a bit and he placed a steadying hand on the small of her back.
The contact proved to be too much for him and he was forced by his baser
instincts to pull her closer to him and wrap her up into a tight embrace as he
lowered his mouth onto hers and claimed her lips in a desperately passionate
kiss. As their lips met and mingled he felt that the entire universe had just
opened up and swallowed them both into a void, in which nothing else existed
outside of their own rapturous coil.
When
the biting pain in his lungs forced him to release his grip on her mouth his
gasps for air were nearly as desperate as his kisses had been and were it not
for his arms wrapped tightly around her body, she might have fallen straight to
the ground. He could feel the near full weight of her body in his arms and he
was glad for it. Once enough oxygen had re-entered his brain he was finally
able to form rational thought again and he spoke, “Sorry… I just-…” He stopped
when she brought her hand up to lay a finger across his lips and then laid her
head beside his on his shoulder. He decided that was a good sign.
They
stood there like that, in each other’s arms for what could have been an eternity
for all they knew, because time had suddenly lost all meaning to him and he was
grateful for that. When she finally raised her head from his shoulder, he was
thrilled to see the softness in her eyes. He took one hand from her body and
brought it up to cup her chin before placing one more, tender kiss on her lips.
She smiled under the touch of his lips to hers and then spoke, “We better not
start that again… Not out here anyway.” She tilted her head and pointed her
nose towards the next house, “I think they’ve seen enough for one night, don’t
you?” His gaze quickly turned to the window of his neighbor’s home and he
glared at the person who quickly dropped the curtain they had been holding
open. He was going to hear about that someday, but he just did not care. His
entire life had been building up to that moment and he was not about to let
some nosy neighbors ruin it for him. He held in his arms his entire future, and
he was not letting go of it for anyone.
He
held her to him tightly once more and then they turned to head inside, when his
foot nudged something on the ground; her hand bag. Her gaze followed his, and
upon seeing the bag she tried to stifle a giggle. “Note to self: handbags and
Grissom kisses are not a good combo.”
Then
it was his turn to blush as he bent down to retrieve the bag for her, “I’ll get
you one with a strap for next time.”
When
he was standing upright again and had handed her back the bag, she gave him a
very suggestive look with her eyebrows, “Next time? Getting a little ahead of
yourself, aren’t you?”
The
left side of his mouth curled up into a devilish grin, “No ma’am… I just know
what I want now.” The lurid smile that played across her face as he led her to
his door caused his heart to skip a beat.
He
reached into his pocket to retrieve his keys and though he tried to do it all
with one hand, he found that the door was not willing to cooperate with his
plans, and he was forced to remove his other arm from around her back; albeit
with great reluctance. As he struggled with the lock on his door, he suddenly
sensed an urgency to get through the door when he felt her hands roam their way
across his back to lay purchase to his waist as they stopped moving. He looked
behind him briefly and found her standing close to him giving her silent (and
very tactile) support for his haste. When he turned back to the door, he cursed
himself for not having fixed the lock ahead of time. Damn thing has been sticking for weeks!
At
last the door swung open and he turned to share his victory with her, but
instead he found himself being pushed through the door by the object of his
ardor and passion. They were soon locked in a fiery and lascivious exchange, so
much so that he was having trouble differentiating between where one of them
began and the other ended. Her mouth laid claim to his with all the fervor of
six years of anticipation and he found that he was returning each envelopment
with his own tempestuous abandon.
Suddenly
gaining his balance once more, he leaned forward and encircled her with his
arms. The force of which sent them careening into the opposite wall, and as
they crossed the hall he was able to think with enough clarity that he slammed
the door shut on their way. At some point his keys had fallen to the floor
because his foot had just made contact with them and they went sliding across
the tiles. They managed to bump and teeter through the entryway and past the
kitchen area, disturbing pictures, cases and furniture all along the way, but
not once did his mouth leave hers as their lust grew into a frightening frenzy.
They left in their wake various personal effects and articles of clothing. By
the time they had reached the living room, it looked as though a tornado had
come through his home, but he was not paying it any mind. His one all consuming
thought was her and until he was certain that she was his completely he would
think of nothing else, even if it took a lifetime.
When
he found himself pinned to the pillar in the center of his living room, his
jacket had been discarded over the breakfast bar of the kitchen, his tie had
been thrown onto one of his many bookcases, his shoes kicked off in different
directions across the floor and his shirt was being violently ripped from its
careful placement within his trousers. Throughout the entire experience, he was
certain that their lips had never left one another’s. He also felt her presence
on his body, as well as his on hers, during the whole tumultuous journey from
his front door to the middle of his townhome. They had become two ravenous,
lusty creatures and it would have taken an act of God to separate them at that
point, and even then he was not sure it would have stopped them.
He
was suddenly brought back into reality by the cool feel of the pillar on his
bare back, as his shirt had been ripped away. The icy sensation caused him to
arch his back and it broke his mouth away from hers, just in time to allow the
oxygen to once more fill his lungs with a gasp. When he returned his gaze upon
the woman of his desire, he discovered a wanton creature in her stead, and the
look in her eyes was enough to make him connect with his animal nature. Without
warning, a low and rumbling growl escaped his throat and he took her into his
arms to lay claim to her, body and soul. As his mouth descended upon hers with
a ferocity he barely knew existed within him, he made her his, forever.
As
he took the breath from her with his emblazoned display of passion, her legs
became weak and she fell into his embrace. Feeling the weight of her in his
arms, he simply scooped her up and began to make his way to the bedroom. Her
arms were wrapped tightly around his neck as her fingers became intertwined
within his hair, but never once did their sweltering kisses cease. His mind so
filled with deep and blazing passion, he nearly failed to turn to get them into
the doorway, but at the last moment she grabbed the doorjamb and caused them to
turn on her pivot.
When
they reached the bed, he was almost tempted to throw her to it and ravage her
with the effects of six years of tortuous denial. But his own thoughts
frightened him in that instant and he drew in a desperately needed breath of
air as he carefully released his hold on her legs and they came to rest on the
floor so that they were standing there together. As he continued to draw in air
he found that her lips were slowly making their way down his neck to his
collarbone. They were hot against his bare skin, and they left behind moist
circles which sent shivers across his flesh as the air would touch the evidence
of her affections. With each touch of her lips to his flesh, his mind became
more and more clouded with desire, but it practically exploded when her breath
moved across his chest and he felt her tongue reach out to his nipple. The
desire was too much for him to contain any longer and he grabbed her by the
arms and claimed her mouth again for his own. His hands began to roam across
her back in search of some way to relieve her of her clothing. When his
desperate attempts were proving futile, he felt her reaching around her back to
pull his hands away. In his confusion, he looked into her eyes, but then she
moved his hands to her shoulders and the straps of her dress. It took him only a
moment to understand what she meant and when she returned her lips to his chest
he slipped the straps down, one at a time, following their descent with his own
kisses. His attention to her skin had her throwing her head back and he took
advantage of the access to her throat. He began to make his way down the length
of it with his mouth and as he progressed she fell back into his arms once
more. That provided him with his first actual glimpse of the object that had
plagued his dreams for so long; her naked form. His breath caught in his throat
at first sight of her breasts, but his desire soon overpowered him and he found
his lips reaching out to claim them for himself. His mind was consumed with the
need to claim as much of her as he could, and everything else was gone. His
entire world was held within his grasp, and he was not going to let anything
stand in his way any longer.
The
revelation had a profound impact on his psyche, and in an instant he had
dropped to his knees and buried his face into her belly, clutching his arms
around her waist. He was overcome with emotion and began to weep. The moment
could have cost him everything, and he struggled to regain control of himself
for fear that she would abandon him for his weakness. Instead, he felt her take
hold of his head and stroke his hair as she lowered herself to her knees. When
she had come face to face with him, he was unable to look up, embarrassed by
his display with the tears still wet on his cheeks. She took his face in her
hands and held him up so that their eyes met, and when he stared into those
rich brown eyes he found something he never expected to see; her love. What he
saw there caused his heart to swell, and though no words passed between them,
he knew that she felt everything that he was feeling in that moment. Their lips
met again, not with the ferocious passion that had been consuming them before
that moment, but with the gentleness of the deep and abiding love that was
being shared between them.
When
his lips finally left hers, he was trailing them down her neck and then to her
shoulders. He was trying to touch his lips to every single one of the delicate
freckles he found on his journey across her precious skin. And while the long
awaited sensation of his lips touching her flesh was sending him to new heights
of pleasure, it was the feel of her fingers making their way over his chest and
playfully teasing his nipples that was bringing his own arousal to his
attention. Without realizing it, a strange sound was escaping his throat. It was
deep and it was guttural and he had no idea he could ever be capable of such a
thing, but the moans were coming from deep inside his soul and he had
absolutely no control over them. Nor did he seem to have control over his own
actions, because it was almost as though he were watching himself as he began
to stand, taking her into his arms as he made his return to his feet. She
continued her attentions on him, as she placed tender kisses along his cheek
and neck, and he returned them with the same tenderness.
He
moved to the bed and kneeled down into the center, carefully laying her out on
his bed and kissing her lips as they descended. Her arms were wrapped tightly
around his neck and he felt a tremendous need to never part their bodies again,
but he also wanted to demonstrate the full depth of his emotion for her, so he
reached up to disentangle her arms. Instead, he held them over her head and
exposed the entire length of her slender arms to his view. He traced his lips
from the top at her delicate wrists all the way down with tiny kisses;
alternating from one arm to the next and back again. When he reached her broad
and beautiful shoulders once more he shifted to her collarbone and that was
when he became aware of her shallow and stuttered breathing. Much to his
surprise and delight, she was responding to his ministrations and he continued
on his sensual path of exploration. His own desire and arousal were increasing
with each new discovery, and he was amazed by every little thing that he was
learning about her; every freckle, every mole, every tiny crease and every
curve of her body. His mind was putting each minute detail into his databank,
but it was not prepared for his next experience. He continued his progress
south, nipping and nibbling at every square centimeter of her speckled, ivory
flesh until he reached her tender and supple breasts, and then he stopped. His
eyes beheld something that he had never dared to imagine that they would be
blessed enough to see. He might have continued to admire the soft curve of her
breasts a while longer, but the sound of her whimper shook him from his trance
and forced him to realize that he too was feeling the emptiness from their loss
of contact and he dove back into paradise. He made certain to give special care
to the sensational creature beneath him as he nipped and suckled at her right
breast. He carefully traced, with his tongue, the dusky circle at the center
and was rewarded with the perking of her nipple into an erect symbol of her
arousal. He then turned his focus to the other breast, giving it the same
loving attention and he was delighted to see that she was continuing to be
responsive to his caresses. This only fueled his desire to please her more, and
he had gained the confidence he needed to continue his southward journey. His
mouth began to trail kisses down between her breasts and when he reached the
outer line of her abdominal muscles he started tracing the line with his tongue
causing her to arch her back up into his face in waves. He moved his one arm to
hold her behind her back so that they could be moving in concert with one
another as he proceeded to make his way down each line of her well defined
belly.
They
were both rolling with the tide of their combined arousal and the flames of
their desires were building into a raging inferno. When he thought he could no
longer wait, he moved southward once more, determined to show this amazing
beauty, this unbelievable woman just how much he wanted her, just how much he
loved her.
While
he continued to nibble at her navel, his left hand moved down to her silken
panties. He half expected her to stop him at the first tug, but instead he
found her moving to give him better purchase to remove her final garment. When
he had slipped them down to her thighs, she raised her right knee up and it
allowed him to slide the panties off her left leg, and then it was only one
swift movement before he was tossing them to the floor. And, as much as he
wished to please her, he was unable to resist the temptation that her impossibly
long leg was offering him as it was raised, so he began to stroke it with his
left hand. That delicious experience was only whetting his appetite for more,
and soon his mouth was trailing over her knee to her thigh. As he explored her
thigh with his tongue, his hand was doing some exploring of its own, and it was
not until she had wiggled into his grasp that he realized what he was doing.
His fingers had found that most tender of places and were teasing at her flesh.
Upon understanding that the moans he was now hearing were coming from the
object of his desire he lost interest in her legs and moved to her center, once
more. His fingers were quickly replaced by his mouth, and now his suckling had
found a new purpose as she began to writhe with wild abandon at his careful
ministrations. Soon, her hands were gripping his head and he was not sure if
she holding him there, or trying to get him to move, but the gyrations of her
body into his face told him that he was providing her with the pleasure he so
desperately wished to give her. When he felt the waves of her ecstasy cascading
over her body, his own arousal became heated and undeniable. He needed to feel
her all around him and needed it badly. It also appeared that she was having a
similar feeling, because she was trying to pull him towards her. He needed no
further prodding.
As
he began to make the trek back to the Northern Territories, he became vaguely
aware that something was holding him back; or more specifically, holding him
down. He was still wearing his pants. He instantly sat up on his knees and
began to claw at his belt, but his hands were quickly batted away when she
leaned forward, kissed his belly and began to undo his belt and removed it from
his trousers before it tossing onto the floor. When she returned her attention
to his pants, he had already undone the fastener and the zipper, and she helped
him to tug them down his legs. Before either of them made the next move, she
looked up into his eyes, and he saw in them her unwavering desire. That was too
much for him and he took her face into his hands and brought his mouth down
onto her kiss swollen lips once more. The kiss was instantly bringing his
desire for her back into a fevered pitch, but he was then acutely aware of
another thing fueling the fires of his passion; her hands had already pulled
his boxers away and had begun to stroke and caress him in ways that he had
never experienced in his lifetime.
Unable
to contain himself any longer, he moved to lay her back down onto the bed as he
positioned himself to claim one last thing. Holding himself over her, he kissed
at her neck once more and then took a deep and reassuring breath. When he felt
her hands on his hips, urging him to continue, he began his descent into
Nirvana. She guided him the entire way, and when he was poised at the gate, he
felt her body arching up to him. He held her to him closely, still kissing at
her neck and shoulder, as she did to him, and then he slowly and carefully
pushed his way through the gates of Heaven. In that instant, as he felt himself
being sheathed within her core, his mind exploded out into the universe of
consciousness and everything else fell away into nothingness. There was only
him and her, and they were enjoined into a single entity in that moment and he
knew, without reservation or fear, that no matter the obstacle, no matter how
difficult things might become for them, he would sacrifice anything and
everything to remain with her.
He
was brought back into the moment when she wrapped one of her long, luscious
legs around him, urging him closer, deeper. With her arms grasping his neck and
shoulders tightly, they began to move in a timeless rhythm, and he was feeling
wave upon wave of absolute pleasure filling his mind, body and soul. He had no
idea how long they had remained in the rocking of those waves, but he knew that
his body would no longer be able to sustain it. He could feel his climax
building in him like a Mars rocket about to lift off, and it increased the pace
of his thrusts with his desperation to bring her even one more moment of
pleasure before he reached his own pinnacle. When he felt her arch her back and
clench tightly around him, he could hold back no longer, and he reached that
mountain he had long desired.
When
he felt every cubic centimeter of his energy being drained from his body, he
nearly dropped his entire weight upon hers, but at the last moment, he tried to
move away from her to fall onto the bed beside her. However, she was not having
any of that, and she refused to release her grip on him, instead, bringing him
down on top of her, to feel the full weight of him bear down her, refusing to
let them part. Understanding her need to remain connected, he chose instead to
use that one last drop of strength he had left in his body to roll over onto
his back, bringing her with him to rest on his chest, as they both fought to
regain their breaths.
He
fought to stay conscious, but the expending of so much physical, sexual,
emotional and psychic energy had taken its toll on him, his eyes were barely
open when he felt her giggle as the sound slowly pierced his exhausted mind. He
opened one eye to look upon her face, and the smile he found there was drowsy
and mischievous. When she saw that he was paying attention, he heard her speak,
“You know what our problem is, Dr. Grissom? We think and talk too much.” She
kissed his chest where she was nuzzling before she continued, “We’re much
better at this.”
He
watched her curl up in his arms and her eyes began to fall closed, as it was
apparent that she too was exhausted from their coupling. And just before he
drifted off into his own well-deserved slumber, he left her with a few words,
“I think… It’s safe to call me Gil now.” As his consciousness withered away, he
felt her soft laughter against his chest.
Chapter 45
With
their feet propped up on the rustic kitchen table, Catherine and Stephanie both
looked like that had just finished a double shift. The only evidence that this
was a good thing were the smiles on their faces as they sipped their coffee and
surveyed the room around them. Catherine inhaled sharply and blew out the air
in a rapid blast, “Man! That was one hell of a party there, kid.”
Stephanie
nodded her head in an exaggerated gesture, “Yes indeedy… That went very well.”
Their
solitude was interrupted by the arrival of a very tall, very well-built and
very handsome young doctor. He leaned over and kissed Stephanie on the cheek
before he proceeded to the refrigerator, took out a bottle of water and then
turned around to lean on the closed door. “Last of the trash is in the bin…
Carter is passed out in the study… Your mother went to bed about an hour ago.
She was wiped!” He took a big swig from the bottle of water before he continued,
“And I am next to fall.” He walked back to his fiancé, leaned over her head and
kissed her lips while suspended upside down, “Goodnight, baby.” As he walked
passed Catherine he laid a hand on her shoulder and then made a joke on his way
out the room, “Goodnight, Aunt
Catherine.”
Catherine
made her surprised and indignant face with her mouth hung wide open, but a hint
of a smile still there, “Uh! He is so going to pay for that one.”
Stephanie
just shook her head, which was still laying back against the back of the chair,
“Nah… I’ll fix him later, besides, you might as well get used to it. I think
it’s gonna stick.” She chuckled at the thought of Catherine being in the same
position as Gil, but as humorous as Catherine’s reaction had been when she and
Thomas had made the joke earlier, she had to admit there was a little truth in
it. She really did feel that Catherine had become a very real part of their
little family over the last few weeks. It probably did not hurt that she had
spent a good portion of her life hearing stories about Catherine from her
uncle. It gave her a head start on feeling familiar around her, and since
Catherine was also the first person to figure out who she was, there had been
that comfort level for much longer than anyone else. She also had felt an
immediate connection to Catherine, and when both parents are orphans, a person
misses out on things like aunts and uncles, so Stephanie had always had to look
to others to fill that void. It was just that until she came to Las Vegas, no
other woman had held their own with her parents or in Stephanie’s eyes.
Catherine fit that bill to the tee. She was smart, brassy and full of
confidence, and Stephanie also admired her ability to lead with subtlety.
Stephanie was hoping to learn a little of that talent from the woman, because
subtlety had never been one of her strong suits. She was about as blunt as a
Castro District drag queen, so she could use a little help in that area.
Catherine
noticed the far away look in the younger woman’s eyes, and smiled a little to
herself. She missed the days when she could look to the future, but her life
had taught her to be more concerned with tomorrow and not next year. She also
silently had to admit that she was touched by her and Thomas’ inclusion into
their little family unit. Though Catherine was finally getting a glimpse of
family life in her own home, she was actually enjoying being part of this one
as well. Stephanie’s mother was a classy and intelligent lady, and she had
enjoyed the time they had spent together over their week of planning and
plotting. She felt close to Stephanie in a way she had not felt to another
woman in a very long time, and she genuinely liked the kid. She was open and
honest and always looking out for those she held dear. And the fact that
Catherine had finally seen inside that carefully protected world of Gil’s was
another bonus. She had always wondered if he kept the best parts of his life
hidden away from everyone else, and now she knew. He was just afraid of people
knowing too much about him, because of the power it gave them. Stephanie, who
probably knew more about him than anyone in the world, was still kept in the
dark about other aspects of his life, but she held a tremendous power over him
because of her knowledge. She had witnessed that power, and she had been
surprised by the person it brought out in Gil. Her only hope now, was that this
weekend killed “Grissom the Enigma” forever. That guy needed to be put out of his misery a long time ago.
The
smirk that curled up the corner of her mouth as she had that thought had not
gone unnoticed, “So, what’re you thinking right now?”
A
light went off in Catherine’s mind, a devilish and delightful light, “I was
just thinking… I need my car this weekend.” Her eyebrow cocked with the
statement and caused Stephanie to lean forward again, as she held her side and
laughed.
“Oh
my God! You really are bad!” The two women chuckled and sipped at their coffee
a moment longer, before Stephanie rose from her seat and reached for her keys hanging
on the wall. “Ready?”
The
impish glint in her eyes was too much for Catherine, and she laughed again, “I’M bad?!” But that did not stop
Catherine from standing up and walking to the hall closet to retrieve her
jacket and purse. “Let’s go!”
Both
women practically ran to the garage and hopped into the Thing. It was a
typically cool Vegas night, but they opted to make the quick trek over to Gil’s
house with the top down. They looked at each in the car and were simply unable
to keep the joke from coming back, “Are you sure?” Stephanie asked her with a
wink.
Catherine
caught her cue and nodded, “Hit it.” Stephanie dropped it into gear and tore
(carefully) out of the garage, both of them laughing their heads off as they
left.
Their
Grand Canyon was, in fact, the five blocks it took to get to Gil’s townhouse on
the other side of the development. The two women speculated about what they
were going to do once they got there, but in the end they found no lights on in
the house, so they just quietly made their way to Catherine’s car.
Catherine
got out of the Thing and she and Stephanie were about to say their parting
goodbyes when Stephanie’s face scrunched up into a questioning expression.
Catherine asked her what the problem was, “What is it?”
Stephanie
held up a pointed finger and Catherine followed it to a strange object laying
on the step outside of Gil’s townhouse. Her curiosity proved too great, so she
walked over to the object, knelt down to pick it up, and then held it out for a
closer examination.
Calling
out to her with an exaggerated whisper, Stephanie’s curiosity had also been
piqued, “What is it?”
She
walked slowly back to the car to show Stephanie exactly what she held in her
hands; a woman’s shawl that happened to match exactly to what Sara had been
wearing earlier that evening. They both were looking at the item with a sense
of awe and wonder. Catherine was the first to break their amazed silence, “You
don’t think-…” She looked back at the darkened townhouse. “I mean, you really
think-…” She left the thought hanging in the air unspoken.
Stephanie
started to smile and nodded her head, “Go Uncle Gil.”
Chapter 46
There
was no light in the room, and with her head tucked into the crook of her arm,
she had no frame of reference for her location as consciousness began to slowly
creep back to her drowsy mind. She felt worn out, but oddly relieved. She had
slept well for the first time in a very long while and she was not sure if that
was just how sleep felt for most people. She had little frame of reference for
that conclusion as of late. The one thing that Sara Sidle was certain of in the
pre-waking moment, was that something was different.
She
took in a deep lungful of air through her nose and mouth, and that was her
first indication that she was not at home. She knew those smells, she had just
never experienced them together. Those scents were two things that she had
dreamed of experiencing at the same moment, and she felt she needed to be sure
that was what was happening. She had dreamed of this moment more times than she
could remember, and she wanted to be absolutely positive that this was not a
dream. When she inhaled next it was fully through her nose and there it was;
Grissom and musk.
She
felt that she was alone in the bed where she was laying, but she also realized
that it was not her bed when she moved her other arm in search of her
nightstand and found an unfamiliar lamp instead. She took another deep breath,
and decided it was time to open her eyes. First, she removed the arm that would
have blocked her view and slid it across the other side of the bed. She found a
definite body print beside her, but it was no longer warm. How long ago had he
left her there? Where was he? And where was she?
Sara
had stalled long enough and she slowly fluttered her eyes open, hoping to avoid
any light which may be waiting to pain her eyes. She found none. She did find
two bath towels, neatly folded and resting on the bed beside her. She arched
her back and propped herself up on her forearms and noticed that there was a
sticky note on top of the towels. It was far too dark in the room to read the
note, so she flopped onto her back and reached over to turn on the lamp her
earlier exploration had discovered. She grabbed the note and read it: “Shower’s
on your left, help yourself. –GG.” She stared at the note for a few moments,
wondering why it sounded so plain, as though nothing had happened that night. Leave it to him to make THAT nothing!
She
grabbed the towels, and grunted her frustration as she headed into the
bathroom. When she got in there she found her hand bag had made its way onto
the bathroom counter, alongside a hand towel with an assortment of small
portion toiletries stacked on it and another sticky note: “Hope this is enough…
If not, help yourself. –GG.” She picked through the items, looking for the
travel sized shampoo and conditioner and a tiny bar of soap, leaving the
toothbrush and paste behind for after the shower. How often does he do this that he keeps supplies handy?
As
she stood under the hot water spray of the shower, she was becoming rather
indignant. He was not there when she woke up, he had left these notes for her,
and she was beginning to wonder if he was even still in the house. By the time
she had washed the last of the conditioner out of her hair and turned off the
water, she had started formulating exactly which piece of her mind she was
going to give him.
She
stood in front of the mirror to brush her teeth and began to rehearse what she
was going to say when she saw him. She was not sure why, but she unconsciously
removed her makeup from the handbag and tried to make herself presentable. As
she was finishing up she found another sticky note; this one held up with a
piece of scotch tape as insurance; “Bottom Drawers = Pants/Shorts, Middle
Drawers = Shirts… Help yourself. –GG.” She stared at the note for a few
minutes, her mouth hanging open in disbelief. She was convinced that he had
probably already skipped out of the place and was doing his best to make the whole
night disappear. I’ll be damned if I’m
gonna let him get away with THAT!
She
stomped out of the bathroom and over to the dresser, yanked open the bottom
drawer, found a pair of gym shorts and pulled them out. Then she yanked open a
middle drawer and found an LVPD golf shirt to put on. She dressed in an angry
rage, mumbling to herself over and over that he had better not think he was
going to get away with treating her that way. Once she was dressed in his
clothes, with them hanging off of her in every direction, she began to search
the room for her own clothes, but she found nothing out of place, other than
the bed. Everything had been tidied up in the room, and that made her even
angrier. Does he think he can just wipe
everything away?!
Sara
threw open the bedroom door and made her way out into the living room. When she
entered the room, she discovered that there was no evidence of the maelstrom of
passion that had blown through the room just hours before. The clothing had
been picked up, the furniture righted and the pictures and cases centered once
again. It was almost as though the whole thing had been a dream, but Sara knew
deep down in her soul that there was no way it had only been a dream.
She
was standing in the center of the room, her face red with her anger and her
breathing becoming ragged in her fury when she finally noticed the movement on
the other side of the breakfast bar in the kitchen. His back was turned to her
and she could not see his face. She also could not hear anything at first,
because her blood was boiling with such ferocity that her ears were roaring in
her head. But then it happened. She heard a strange sound coming from the
kitchen. It was whistling. Grissom was whistling.
When
he turned to grab something from the cabinet behind him he caught site of her
in the center of his living room, and then he did something that shocked Sara
to her very core: he smiled at her. It was not a cautious smile or even a
friendly smile. It was filled with warmth and it was the most inviting smile
she could ever remember seeing on his face in her life.
He
looked down at the watch on his wrist and then looked back at her as he moved
out of the kitchen, “Hey there sleepyhead. I was beginning to think I was going
to have to wake you up for breakfast.”
His
voice shocked her out of her stupor and she shook her head to clear the fog of
confusion that had just fallen over her. “Um, no… I guess I was, ah, just
tired.”
He
crossed the rest of the distance between them while she fought to make sense of
the whole thing. He stopped just short of her personal space and looked her up
and down, “I don’t think that outfit would turn many heads on the strip, but
it’s the best thing I’ve seen in a long time.” He grinned at her and then
kissed her on the forehead. “Come on and sit down… I’m almost done in here.” He
motioned for her to follow him into the kitchen, and that was when she noticed
he was wearing an apron and holding a spatula. His apron was covered in what
looked like flour and he seemed to be trying to keep from getting anything on
Sara. Once she had padded into the kitchen, he kicked out one of the backed bar
stools from the breakfast bar and pointed to get her to take the seat. He
turned back to the cook top, but began talking with his back to her, “Sorry, I
wasn’t really planning on any company, so I’m afraid all I have to offer you is
some apple juice and some pancakes I managed to whip up.” He turned back around
to her, “You do eat pancakes, still? Even if I used butter?”
She
realized he was asking about her being a vegetarian and responded, “Yeah, I’m
just a no meat vegetarian. I’m not rabid over it.” He chuckled at her answer
and turned back to his griddle.
“That’s
good… I had to settle for pancakes, because I didn’t even have enough eggs for
a decent omelet. And for some reason I didn’t even think to check before I ran
out to get the shower stuff.” He turned back to face her again, “Did I get
enough of that? Or even come close to the right stuff?”
She
was shocked at his question, because it meant that he had purposely left the
house in search of those items for her to take a shower in his home. “Um, yeah,
it was fine.”
He
smiled and turned back to his cooking, “Oh good… I’m afraid I’m not very well
versed in that kind of thing, so I was hoping I hadn’t screwed it up.”
Sara
smirked at his response and realized that she had awoke to a whole new world,
and as she drew her knees up into the seat with her she also decided that she
needed to stop reacting as though it were still the old world. This is going to take some getting used to.
Grissom
flipped his last pancake up into the air and caught it on the plate with all
the others as he turned around to face her with that adorable smirk of his
curling the side of his mouth. “Hungry?”
“Starved.”
She smiled back at him and he kissed her forehead again when he put the plate
of pancakes down in front of her before he turned around to reach into the
refrigerator.
When
he returned to the breakfast bar, he had a bottle of apple juice and a small
sauce pot from the cook top. “I’m afraid I was also without maple syrup, so I
made something else to go with the pancakes.” He placed the small, handled pot
down onto a ceramic tile and poured her a glass of juice before sitting down
beside her at the breakfast bar.
She
leaned over and sniffed the pot, “Mmmmmm… That smells like cinnamon?” She was
surprised that he had any idea that she loved cinnamon in almost any form.
“Yeah,
don’t ask me why, but-…” When she looked at him, he had the most confused
expression on his face, “But I have been thinking about cinnamon ever since
last night. I even could’ve sworn that I tasted it when I woke up.” He screwed
up his mouth to one side as he tried to figure out the mystery that had been
plaguing him, but Sara’s face was beginning to flood with a deep blush and when
he turned to look at her, she was lowering her gaze with her hand up to her
mouth, “What?”
She
looked up into his eyes, and though he was genuinely wondering what she was
giggling about, she loved the confused expression on his face. Unable to hide
the mystery any longer, she leaned over and gently kissed his lips. She had
only intended on it being a tender and quick peck, but when he met her caress,
it became a loving exchange between the two of them. Just before they pulled
away, his eyes opened wide in surprise and he held her back from him a moment,
“It was you?”
It
was her turn to screw up her mouth into a satisfied smirk, “Well, my lip gloss
anyway.”
He
sat there for a moment, but she could tell that something to say had struck
him, and she prepared for the horribly corny line that she just knew was about
to escape that wonderful mouth of his. He tilted his head to the side, took the
pot from the tile and began to pour the rich sauce over her pancakes, but when
he made it over to his plate, he was unable to resist the line any longer,
“Sugar and spice, and everything nice.”
She
stuffed the first bite into her mouth as she leaned against him trying not to
laugh as she chewed the food. He just sat there with a satisfied grin on his
face.
They
finished their meal in a quiet silence, but their eyes rarely left one another
as they ravenously consumed the food he had prepared for them. The silence came
from two sources; their sudden comfort together, and their fear that it might
all come crashing down if one of them made the wrong move.
As
Gil watched the last morsel of food disappear into her very sensual mouth, he
found that he was being mesmerized by the sight of her. He knew that he could
not keep up the silence any longer. His own lingering doubts were screaming at
him to say something. SAY SOMETHING!
“Sara?”
He waited for her to reluctantly face him, “What does all this mean?”
“Wow…
Six years and you choose NOW to lay
it all out?” She was completely flabbergasted that he would be the one to start
that conversation.
He
looked down and took her hand into his as threaded his fingers into hers,
“Better late than never?”
She
placed her other hand on his cheek and forced him to look up into her eyes.
“We’ve been dancing around this for more than six years… So, US figuring it all out in one night is
never going to happen, Gris.”
When
he did not move for a while, she dropped her legs to the floor and stood beside
his seat. But it was when she took his head into her arms that he finally began
to respond, “Is it never going to be easy for us?”
She
chuckled a little at that question and held him closer to her breast, “Only if
we’re lucky.” They both laughed at her answer, because they knew in their
hearts that she was one hundred percent correct. They were simply not easy
people, and that was what made them great. Not just alone, but especially
together. They both knew in that moment, that if nothing else, life would never
get boring around them.
When
he finally raised his gaze again, he saw a glint of desire in Sara’s eyes, and
he looked down at his watch. “Well, we have a few hours before I can take the
clothes to the dry cleaners and go to the grocery store… Got any suggestions?”
She
raised her eyebrow and took his hand before turning and beginning to walk away
from the breakfast bar. He had one last remark to make, “But what about the
dishes?” The heated and salacious look on her face when she turned back to
glare at him sent tendrils of ecstasy throughout his entire being, “I can buy
more.”
Chapter 47
Sunday
afternoon came far sooner than either of them imagined that it would. However,
its presence had not yet been given the chance to weigh down on them. Gil
breathed deeply with his overwhelming satisfaction at having woken up once more
with the warmth of her body clinging closely to him and his arms wrapped
tightly around her. When he craned his neck up, he could see her nestled into
his side with her head resting on his shoulder, and she was smiling. He
realized, in watching her sleep, that his judgment had not been accurate just
two days before. She was most beautiful to him when she was sleeping beside
him. Her face was practically serene, and her whole being radiated warmth and
contentment. It radiated so strongly that he was caught up in it, and for the
first time in his active memory he felt at peace with everything, in
everything. He basked in that warmth as he closed his eyes against the sun
which was desperately trying to alert them to the impending reality of the
world outside.
“Don’t
you dare.” Sara’s voice caused him to pop open his eyes and look over to find
her sleepy smile waiting for him. “There is no time for you to fall back
asleep, Dr. Grissom.”
He
shook his head when she moved up to his chest to rest her chin on her forearms
and look directly into his face. “What am I going to have to do to get you to
stop calling me that?”
She
scrunched up her mouth and then looked up and to the right, as though she were
thinking of something, “Hmmmm… Well, you could start with a kiss…” He gladly
obliged and found her still smiling. “And then fix us some breakfast; I’m
starving!”
“Again?!”
He was surprised by her voracious appetite. For
a lot of things.
“Food,
this time. I’ll have to control myself for the other.” She rolled off of him
and jumped to her feet. As he was staring at her with a shocked expression, she
turned back with that suggestive smirk curling the corner of her mouth, “For
now, anyway.” She left him to his lurid thoughts as she entered the bathroom.
He
was chuckling to himself as he got up from the bed and threw on a shirt and
some shorts. But just when he was about to head to the kitchen, she called out
from the bathroom, obviously talking with a toothbrush in her mouth, “And hurry
up… I need you to drop me off at my place before work.”
There
it was. She had said the dirty word that he had been dreading all weekend. He
stopped in his tracks and stood there with his shoulders slumped over slightly.
And, as though she could sense that her words had made an impact on him, she
leaned seductively out of the bathroom and stretched one of her legs out to
push at his backside, “No chickening out now… Besides, I can’t very well show
up to work in your sweatpants and an ‘I Love Bugs’ t-shirt… Breaks the dress
code.” When he looked into her eyes, he instantly realized that it would all
work out.
She
winked at him and he grabbed her leg from the wall it was clinging to, and
brought it up to his face, then he kissed her toes. “As you wish.” The depth of
the emotion in his eyes as he looked up at her caused her to blush that time
and it warmed his heart even more.
He
went straight to the kitchen and began to whip them up a breakfast fit for a
king. Or at least a jester and his Queen.
And by the time she had emerged from the bedroom, wearing the slippers he kept
at the bottom of his closet and dressed in a pair of his sweatpants and another
LVPD golf shirt (this one with his embroidered name loosely hanging over her
right breast) he had to laugh at the sight. “I’m telling you, it’s a fashion
statement I could get used to.”
She
looked down at the ridiculous nature of her attire and smirked as she shook her
head, “Somehow, I don’t see this look taking off…” She thought about what she
had just said and changed her opinion, “Well, it’s at least not being taken off
at the moment.” She winked seductively at him, “We’ll talk again, after work.”
She saw him shrink again with her mention of work and she had a moment of worry
in her eyes. However, she quickly pushed it aside and moved to stand behind
him, wrapping her arms around his waist as she propped her chin up on his
shoulder, “You know, work isn’t a dirty word, Gil.” She felt him sigh with her
words, “Tell ya what… Why don’t we sit down at the tabl-…” She had a second
thought, and looked back at the table, “Wait, did we remember to clean the
table?”
He
was not sure how she had done it, but her question had instantly brought him
back into the sunlight of this new phase of their relationship, and he nodded
his head, “Oh yeah, I wiped it down again while I was making breakfast.”
She
let go of his waist and wiggled into the space between him and counter to grab
the plates he had prepared for them, “Oh good, then let’s sit down there and
eat… And then we can talk about our game plan for the shift.” She deftly
transferred the plates to the table and he grabbed the two cups and the pot of
coffee to bring with them.
Sara
did not immediately begin to talk, instead she started in on the food before
she had even taken her seat. He delighted at the sounds that were escaping her
mouth as she thoroughly enjoyed the food he had made for her. He had never been
one for the vegetarian lifestyle, but he thought he could get used to some of
its finer points. Especially if it meant making Sara as happy as she was right
then. Every mouthful seemed to thrill her more, and his heart sang at pleasing
her, even in small ways like cooking.
When
he finally realized that she had not spoken again, he understood that she was
giving him plenty of room to voice his concerns before making her own comments.
So, he took a deep breath and made the first move, “Sara, I can’t deny that I
don’t want this weekend to be over, but-…” He stopped, not sure of how to
proceed, but knowing that he must, “But we have to be careful… Ecklie is just
looking for something to nail both of us with. And I don’t want to do anything
that would damage your reputation, either.”
Sara
nearly choked when he made his last comment, “My reputation?!”
He
nodded his head, “Yes, you don’t think people won’t be saying anything about
you dating the supervisor? And what that would mean?” He was shocked that she
had never considered the repercussions of dating a superior.
She
just shook her head, “It would mean that the gossip mill would have some more
to grind up, but in the end, my work, and your work speaks for itself, Gil.”
She pointed her fork at him, “Besides, it’s not like I plan on throwing you
over the layout table and having my way with you…” She thought about that image
a moment and the corner of her mouth turned up at the idea. “Yeah, so anyway,
we’ll just handle ourselves the same way we always have. If anything, it will
improve our working relationship.”
He
scrunched up his face into a question and asked, “How do you mean?”
“Please,
Gil… You can’t honestly tell me that the tension between us hasn’t driven you
crazy at times.” She was being totally serious and he had to concede the point
to her, and he shrugged to show his acceptance. “I mean seriously, the whole lab has felt it at times.”
That
shocked him. He knew that Catherine had long sensed the tension between them,
but he truly did not realize that anyone else had clued in on it, “Really?” She
laughed at his question and he guessed from her reaction that it was indeed the
case. He took a bit of his food and mulled that over a while.
Sara
just shook her head as she drew her knees up to her chest in the chair and
sipped at her coffee, “It’s amazing.”
He
furrowed his brow and asked, “What’s that?”
“Oh
nothing, I’m just figuring out that this whole time I thought you were doing
this thing on purpose… But you really are just clueless sometimes…” She
chuckled some more at the thought, “Totally adorable, but completely clueless.”
He
was about to take an affront to her comment, but then he realized that had she
called him adorable, and he turned his head up and smirked at the thought.
“Adorable, huh?”
She
leered at his acknowledgement of half of her statement, “Totally!” And then she
threw her head back and laughed, “My God! What have I gotten myself into?!”
She
was still laughing to herself when he stood up and grabbed both of their empty
plates. He then leaned down over her head and kissed her forehead, “A lifetime
of me.”
Sara
reached up and held him from moving away. “Deal,” and kissed him gently on the
lips.
Chapter 48
He
had managed to get through half of the shift without hearing a word from
Catherine, (who had been running late and had to meet up with Warrick on the
scene of their case for the night) or Stephanie, but Grissom knew that the axe
would fall soon enough. The first one was about to drop, as he pushed through
the doors of the Autopsy Room.
Stephanie
did not even look up from the body that she was working on when he entered the
room. He cleared his throat, hoping to catch her attention, but she did not
respond. Fearing proximity, he hesitated before taking those first few steps
toward her. When he got up beside her and she still had not responded, he
looked more closely at her and realized that she had headphones stuck in her
ears. So, he took a deep breath and tapped her on the shoulder.
He
instantly realized his mistake when she jumped back, holding a sharp implement and
clutching at her chest, “JESUS!!! Don’t do that!” She leaned against the exam
slab for a moment to catch her breath and then ripped off her gloves and took
the headphones out of her ears and turned to actually see who had just scared
the devil out of her. That was when the sneer appeared on her face, “Oh… It’s
you.”
Grissom
shivered to animate the coolness of her tone, “Wow, I know this is the morgue,
but that was cold.”
She
turned and walked back to the shelf at the wall and grabbed a fresh pair of gloves,
“I’m not sure I want to talk you, right now.”
He
hung his head down in a show of his shame, “I know, and I-…”
“No,
you don’t know… Or you would have at least called me SOME time over the weekend to apologize.” She looked up at him and
her eyes were all he needed to see to feel some of her anger. “Or did you just
forget we were supposed to take Mom to the symphony last night?”
Grissom
cringed at the mention of the event that had completely slipped his mind, “Oh,
Stephie… I totally forgot.” When she saw the sorrow in his face she softened a
little. “I really did forget about it, and I guess I never wrote it down. Can
you forgive me?”
She
walked back to the slab and passed him without regard on her way before
speaking, “I’m still mad right now… Ask me again later.” She started back to
work and stayed silent for a few moments.
Grissom
was trying to work out in his mind how he was going explain himself to
Stephanie without giving up too much information. He knew she deserved a full
explanation, but he was not even sure he could put it into words himself yet.
“Steph, is there anything I can do?”
“You
can grab those reports on my desk and distribute them for me. And you can come
to dinner with Father Wilhelm Monday night.” He cringed at the mention of the
priest. He had been avoiding the issue with her ever since her arrival, but
with the wedding looming over them, he knew it was coming.
“Steph,
you know how I feel about th-…”
“And
you know how I feel, so if you expect me to respect you, then you have to
return the favor, even if you don’t like it.” She delivered the comment with
her hand planted firmly on her hip, and he knew there was no fighting her on
the issue.
And
he had to admit, she was right. He could not very well claim to be tolerant, if
he was not willing to tolerate that which he had come to despise. He shrugged
his shoulders, “Fine… I’ll concede the point.” When she smiled and turned back
to her work, he walked over to her office and called out when he was not sure
which reports she wanted, “Which ones?”
“The
stack on the edge closest to you on the right… That says ‘Distribution Copy’ on
top.” He picked them up and stared at them curiously. He could vaguely remember
seeing that stamp before, but it had been a long time.
“Since
when did we start this policy?” He called back out to her as he leafed through
the reports.
“Not
my fault you swoop in here before they get stamped and bully your way into
making the assistants hand them over.” He smirked at her observation of his
modus operandi. He then sat down in the guest chair and started reviewing the
one from his last case. He was so entranced by his reading that he completely
missed what was happening in the room outside of the office.
Sara
walked into the Autopsy Room and was fully prepared to throw herself on
Stephanie’s mercy for leaving the party Friday night, but she was wholly
unprepared for what actually awaited her. “I was hoping you were in here
tonight.” She tried to keep her tone light, expecting to tell her that she had
been called away and did not wish to disturb the party, just like Grissom had
told her mother on Friday. She had her story ready to go, but Stephanie had
other plans.
“I’m
not talking to you, right now.” Stephanie did not even raise her head from her
work to answer Sara.
Sara
was immediately struck dumb by her response. She stood there with her mouth
open for a few moments before she was able to speak, “Look, I’m really sorry
about Friday… I mean, I didn-…”
“I’m
still not talking to you… Too mad,” Stephanie reached over to her instrument
cart and removed the sternum saw. Sara had to look away as she started to hack
away at the victim’s breastplate.
She
was turned away with a horrified expression on her face when Stephanie’s head
popped up as though she remembered something and turned back to check on Sara.
“Sorry… I forgot.” She put the saw down and reached over to pull the drape back
over the body. When she turned around she had discarded the gloves into the
trash container beside her. “All better.”
Sara
slowly turned back and found that the body that had been on display was
completely covered and Stephanie was taking off her gown and tossing into the
trash bin at her feet. She was still cringing a bit when she turned around, but
more importantly, she was struggling to keep the bile at bay. “I really need to
get over this thing.”
Stephanie
left her line of sight for a moment, and when she returned she had a paper cup
with some water in it. “Here, this’ll help.” She also grabbed the stool and
rolled it over to her. Stephanie put a hand on her shoulder and made her sit
down. “Hold your head back and breathe.”
Sara
was tempted to fight the attention, but the nausea threatening to take hold gave
her no ability, so she just asked questions, “Does all of that really help?”
“Nausea
has two main effects… One involves backing up the stomach juices and drinking
the water forces your stomach muscles to stay in the right gear.” She had
brought her another cup of water, “Sip.” Stephanie waited for her to sip from
the cup before she continued, “The other effect is on your equilibrium. By
looking up and keeping your brain oxygenated, you can combat that as well.”
Sara was suddenly feeling much better, so she figured the younger woman must
have had a point after all.
“Wow,
that works much better than smiling.” When Sara looked down, she found
Stephanie with her brow furrowed into a question, “Oh, I usually just smile
really big to try and stop my gag reflex.”
“Does
that work?”
Sara
blushed and looked down, “No, not really.” They both laughed at her admission,
and then Stephanie stopped laughing abruptly and turned back around. Sara took
that as an opening for her to continue groveling. “Um… You’re still mad about
Friday?”
“You
could say that. Nothing like showing up to someone’s bridal party and not even
saying hello to the bride before you leave.” Stephanie laid the guilt on thick
and Sara felt the sting.
“Look,
I didn’t even know that’s where I was going… Warrick just asked me to bail him
out on some dinner party. Until the toast, I didn’t even know it was for you,
or even that you were getting married.” Sara was practically defensive and that
was not how she intended the conversation to go when she worked it out in her
mind.
The
silence she found from Stephanie was starting to worry her. But when the
younger woman turned around, she had a slight smirk on her face, “I was
wondering how ‘Rick convinced you to come.”
A
horrible sinking feeling was falling over her, “Y-You what?”
“But
that still doesn’t excuse you for tearing out of there without even calling me
later.” Stephanie was trying to confuse her even more, and it was working.
Sara
was trying to recover, she could tell there was something else going on, but
she could not quite put her finger on it. “I ah, well, I was kind of unplugged
over the weekend.” Sara quickly realized there was something else that would
have kept her from doing just that, “And besides, I didn’t have your number.”
Stephanie
shrugged, and started going about her business again. Sara was struggling to
come up with another justification for her lack of manners and did not notice
the movement that was occurring in the office behind her. She was about to say
something when she saw Stephanie reaching for a reddish looking material on a
shelf. The material looked wholly out of place in the morgue. As she pulled it
down from the shelf Sara’s breath caught in her throat as the light hit the
fabric and the color changed. When Stephanie turned and held the shawl out to
her with a shrug, “Why didn’t you just get it from Uncle Gil?”
That
was when Sara suddenly realized there was someone standing behind her, as
Grissom cleared his throat. She was frozen in place by the revelation and was
completely uncertain how to proceed.
Apparently,
Grissom did not have the same problem. He took a few steps forward so that he
was standing next to Sara before he spoke, “Did we really need all the
theatrics?”
Stephanie
shrugged, “They were fun for me.”
That
was when another voice joined them from the doorway, “And they were really fun
for me.” Grissom turned and was surprised to find Catherine standing there, but
not that she knew what was going on.
“Hello
Catherine… I suppose I should have known that Thelma would not be far behind
Louise.” Catherine and Stephanie exchanged some knowing looks and then laughed.
Sara just looked at Grissom with her confusion. “What?” He just shrugged off
her unbelieving look, “They even have the convertible.”
Chapter 49
The
air was already beginning to cool and they were less than an hour away from the
desired sunset. The guests were milling about the grounds of the Braun estate,
waiting for the main event to start in the next few minutes. Half of the night
shift at the Las Vegas Criem Lab was wandering around in small circles of
conversations, as was a sizeable portion of the emergency room and surgical
staff of the Desert Palms hospital.
Warrick
Brown and his wife Tina were engaged in polite conversation with a couple who
had recently moved out of state, but were in town for the wedding. Warrick
noticed a short, blonde haired young girl walking in and out of the circles of
people as they chatted, as though she were looking for something or someone. He
instantly recognized the girl as Catherine’s daughter Lindsay. They had made
friends many years ago, on her various visits to the lab.
When
she passed beside him, she instantly recognized the man as well, “Hey Warrick.”
“Hey,
Linds… Shouldn’t you be back with the bride, girl?” He put a gentle hand on her
shoulder as he spoke.
“Yeah,
but Mom sent me out to look for Sara… Have you seen her, War?” Lindsay kept
looking around at the different groups of people trying to spot the woman.
Warrick
craned his neck around and spotted the woman having an animated discussion with
Nick over by the fountain. He leaned over and tried to point her out to Lindsay
from her vantage point, “Follow the end of my finger… She’s by the fountain
talking to Nick.”
Lindsay
trailed her gaze down the length of his arm and when her eyes finally caught
sight of Sara she gave him a smile. “Thanks, Warrick… Save me a dance later?”
The delightful dimples on her freckled face always turned up the corners of Warrick’s
mouth.
He
nodded his head, “Got you on my dance card, Linds. Don’t forget me.”
“No
way!” And she trotted off in the direction of the person she had been sent to
find.
Warrick
turned back to his wife, who was giving him a questioning glare, “Don’t look at
me like that… She’s been my girl longer than you.” He screwed up his mouth
stroked his chin as he tried to calculate the time, “’Bout six or seven years,
easy. I think it’s the dimples.”
Jim
Brass chose that moment to walk up to them and make a comment, “And here I
thought it was those freckles.”
Warrick
gave Jim a nudge, “Nah, you must have me confused with one of her other
boyfriends… I think Grissom was the freckle junkie.” The two men had a good
laugh at their inside joke, and everyone just smiled at their exchange.
Lindsay
broke through the crowd right in front of Nick who slowed her down and held her
back from falling down, “Careful, Linds… You’re gonna wreck that pretty dress
before the weddin’, and I’m not gonna be able to save you from your Mom.”
She
gave him an exasperated frown, “Nobody can save me from Mom, ever.” Sara and
Nick both laughed at Lindsay’s gestures and gave each other a knowing look,
because if they had told the girl she looked and sounded just like her mother
in that instant, the shrieks would have been deafening. No fourteen year old
girl wants to know they act like their mother. “Hey Sara? Mom sent me to get
you.”
Sara
held a hand to her chest in her surprise, “Me? Really?”
“Yeah,
and she’ll kill me if I don’t hurry.” Lindsay was being dead serious, so Sara
took her at her word.
“Since
we don’t want bloodshed today, I’ll follow you there.” Lindsay was visibly
relieved and took Sara’s hand to lead her back to the room where her mother was
hiding away from the crowd gathered there.
Lindsay
knew that today was a big deal. Her mother had even gotten her grandfather to
let them use his house for the wedding; And
she never asked Sam for ANYTHING. Lindsay really liked Stephanie and Thomas
and she was truly excited when they asked her to be their flower girl / ring
bearer for the wedding. She also really liked that she felt like she had
someone to talk to about her mother. Stephanie was much easier to talk to than
her grandmother or her aunt, and she was also a good friend to her mother,
which Lindsay figured could only be a good thing. As she tugged Sara through
the people to the back of the pool house where her mother and Stephanie were
getting ready for the wedding, she hoped that Sara could fix the problem they
were having. She did not know why her mother needed Sara. Lindsay always
thought her mother was the only one who could figure Gil out, but she guessed
that things must have changed.
Just
before they got to the pool house door, she ran into her grandmother and
grandfather who were obviously glad to see her in her new dress. “Lindsay,
honey, you look so pretty!”
Lindsay
looked back to see Sara smiling, “I was going to say the same thing, but she kind
of dragged me out of the crowd too soon… Lindsay, why don’t you stay here.”
Sara smiled at Lily and Sam and made her excuse to leave, “I’m sure I can find
my way now.” She nodded at the older couple and slid past them, leaving them to
admire Lindsay and her dress.
Sara
got to the door and knocked when she found it locked. The voice that called out
to her was familiar and sounded very coarse, “Who is it?”
“Cath,
it’s me.”
The
door swung open violently and she was pulled into the room in a gust, “Thank
God!”
Sara
was trying to catch her breath from the greeting, and then she saw Stephanie in
her dress, and a horrified expression on her face. “Well, I’d love to say you
look amazing, but what’s up with the face?”
Stephanie
came rushing up to her and took Sara’s hands into her, “Sara, you have got to
help me, please?”
Sara
looked around the room and was still trying to figure out what was going on,
“Yeah, sure… Wha’dya need?”
“It’s
Uncle Gil.” A lump instantly rose in Sara’s throat.
When
neither woman responded right away, she begged for an answer, “What about him?
Is he okay?”
“You
mean you haven’t seen him?” Catherine had asked the question, but the pain of
the words came from Stephanie’s eyes.
“No,
Nick and I had a call that ran late and I rode over here with him… Where’s
Grissom?” Sara was beginning to understand the problem.
“Your
guess is as good as ours… His home phone goes straight to voicemail and he’s
not answering his cell.” Catherine was throwing up her arms with her
explanation. “I even had Dispatch page him… NOTHING!”
Sara
took a deep breath and tried to piece it all together, when something dawned on
her. “Does his cell go straight to voice?”
Catherine
looked as though she had not ever considered that his cellphone had not gone
straight to voicemail, which meant it was still on. That was when panic began
to fill her eyes, “You don’t think he-…”
“Now,
let’s not jump to conclusions.” She was trying to be the voice of reason, as it
was obvious these two women had gone well past that point already. She looked
at her wristwatch, “Okay, so how much time do we have?”
“I’m
supposed to be walking down that aisle in fifteen minutes.” That did not give
her much time to work with.
“Okay…
I’ll get you an answer in ten.” Sara walked out of the pool house with her
cellphone in hand. She quickly dialed a number and then hit the extension, “Hey
Archie! Give me a GPS location on Grissom’s cell, right now… No, I don’t have
time for small talk… Yes, I’m at the wedding… Sorry, Arch, but I really need
th-… You do?.. Where?... Are fucking kidding me?... No, sorry Archie… Yeah,
I’ll get you some cake… Bye.” Sara shook her head and looked around for some
way to make it to the front gate and back in under ten minutes. Son of a bitch! Why do you make things so
hard?! She suddenly spotted a gardener with a golf cart and a light went
off. She ran over to the elderly man and shouted at him, “Hey! Does that thing
haul?”
“Huh?”
The man looked completely confused.
“Look,
I don’t have time to explain… I need to get to the front gate and back in under
ten minutes… Can you help me?” The seriousness of her expression must have hit
home because he just got into the driver seat and motioned for her to get in,
which she did. In an instant they were barreling down the impossibly long drive
to the front gate. He signaled for the guard to open the gate and she waited
for what seemed like forever for it to open.
Once
she got outside of the gate, she looked from right to left, in search of his
hiding spot, but instead she found him just sitting there on a rock right
outside the gate to the left. The guard came up to her and spoke, “Hey lady…
He’s been there for like an hour… He drove in like an hour and half ago and
then came walking out here and just sat down on that rock.” She gave him a sad
look and he just had to ask, “I hope that ain’t the groom.”
Sara
had to laugh when she responded, “Not hardly. But thanks.” She walked over to
him and he finally noticed that she was there. “Have you lost your mind,
Grissom?”
He
just hung his head again and mumbled, “Probably.”
“Well,
pick it up at the front desk and let’s get out of here.” She walked up and
stood in front of him before she reached in and removed his phone from his
jacket pocket and re-dialed the number which had called his phone an amazing
number of times. “… Hey Cath… Tell Stephanie to just get ready… I’ll have him
there in a few. I promise… One way or another.” She closed up the phone and
returned it to his pocket. Then she took his chin in her hand and held up his
face so that she could look into his eyes, “Now, what the hell were you
thinking?”
His
eyes became filled with unshed tears as he spoke, “I just couldn’t be that
hypocrite, Sara.”
“What
are you talking about?” Sara was dumbfounded by his response.
“How
can I present her to marry someone? Me?”
Sara
shook her head and shook away his questions, “You’re right.” He looked almost
as though he had just been shot, but she continued, “It shouldn’t be you, it
should be her father, but he’s not here anymore. You are… And she wants you
there, more than anyone.”
“But-…”
“But
nothing, Gil… Do you love that girl?” Sara was quickly losing her patience with
him.
“You
know I do, but that’s wh-…”
“Then
quit being a selfish asshole and remember that today has nothing to do with
you, unless you fuck it up.” Sara stood tall and crossed her arms over her
chest, her indignity at his actions shining through clearly.
Much
to her complete and total shock, he started laughing. Sara turned and glared at
him, her confusion evident on her face. “What’s so funny?”
“Me…
You… I think I know why this all happened like this now.” Sara was absolutely
flabbergasted at his answer and it was glaringly apparent in her eyes when he
stood up and took her into his arms. “I don’t even think Catherine would have
had the courage to put me in my place like that.” He looked down at his watch
and suddenly realized what he was about to do. “How sweaty are we going to be
running back to the house to get there in time?” He was starting to remove his
jacket when she suddenly realized that he had changed his mind faster than she
had been able to keep up, but she had a surprise of her own to spring on him.
“Leave
it on.” She started straightening his tie and smoothing out his suit jacket.
And then she took his hand to lead him around to the other side of the gate.
“Your chariot awaits.”
They
both laughed at the sight of the golf cart with the flatbed across the back.
The gardener must have sensed something and he gave them a look before he
spoke, “With both of you, it’ll go smoother if you sit in the back.” He jumped
out and threw a blanket over the tail of his golf cart, so that they did not
get their clothes dirty.
Grissom
hoisted Sara up onto the back end of the cart and then climbed up himself. The
gardener immediately took off with the same speed he had arrived there and both
Sara and Grissom were laughing at their situation. Without a thought, or any
regard for their visibility, he wrapped his arm around her and gave her one of
those kisses that she had claimed made it impossible for her to hold anything
while in the throws of what she called “Grissom Kisses,” but he was completely
living in the moment and when the cart came to an abrupt stop, he was greeted
with a rather interesting sound; applause.
Sara
turned her face away from the small crowd of people who had watched them arrive
at the garden to avoid showing the amazing blush that was burning on her cheeks
at that moment. Grissom simply leaned over and whispered into her ear, “I guess
we’ve been outed.” And then he kissed her tenderly on the cheek before hopping
off the back of the cart and turning to help her down as well.
She
was still blushing furiously, but she had to admit that at least they did not
have hide any longer or have to tell the story a million times. Sara wrapped
her arms around his neck as he helped her to the ground and leaned in to
whisper into his ear, “Does this mean the layout table is up for discussion
now?”
That
time it was Grissom whose face warmed with an intense blush, but he was able to
recover well enough to give her a response, “Ah, no… But I’ll make it up to
you, in other ways.” He punctuated it with a raise of his eyebrow that Sara
mirrored it to show her interest. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He kissed her
quickly on the cheek before turning for the pool house, “I have a bride to deal
with… Wish me luck.”
Sara
laughed at the comical expression on his face as he ran off to deal with the
wrath of the waiting bride, but when she walked over to join the other guests
she was blushing all over again. Their quips, whistles and laughter made her
acutely aware of just how many people had been rooting for them over the years.
The
only mystery she found was in the utterly confused face of Nick as she joined
her team to take their seats. He was practically ashen with his shock, and Sara
was unable to resist making a comment, “Is there a problem, Nicky?” Warrick
threw back his head and laughed at the catlike pose and expression that she
used to emphasize her question.
Nick
shook his head, as though the whole thing could be cleared up like an
Etch-A-Sketch and then he spoke, “Well… I thought he was… I mean isn’t he
involved with… You know, um.”
They
all looked at him like he had three heads, and they were all speaking Sanskrit,
“Spit it out, Nicky.” Brass was always one to get right to the point.
“I
thought he was with Stephanie’s Mom.” They all had their mouths hanging open at
his completely ludicrous conclusion. “Well, why else would he be givin’ her
away?” That was what brought the laughter out in full force.
But
it was Brass that had the last word when he slapped Nick on the back, “Someone
get this man a razor… Obviously all that hair’s gotten in the way.”
EPILOGUE
The
garden had been filled with good friends.
The
bride had been absolutely beautiful.
The
vows had been said.
Many
tears had been shed.
And
joyous laughter had been shared by everyone.
All
in all, Grissom decided the entire day had been a rousing success. Despite his
fears going in to the thing, everything had turned out wonderfully. He was
leaning back in his chair, his legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles and
his hands clasped over his middle as he mused about the events of the day.
He
was so caught up in his own thoughts that he failed to notice the appearance of
the tall, gray haired woman standing beside him as she also observed the rest
of the party. When she spoke, he was a little startled, “Weddings always seem
to bring out the romantic in us all, don’t they?”
Grissom
turned in his shock at the voice and then smiled at the person behind it,
“Elizabeth, I didn’t hear you walk up.”
“Lost
in your thoughts again, Gil?” She smiled back at him and laid a tender hand on
his shoulder.
He
stood, and pulled out a chair for her to sit. “Please, join me?”
She
chuckled at his gesture of chivalry, “Ever the gentleman.” He demurred to her
comment and waited for her to take a seat. However, she was ready to stop him
in his tracks again when she asked him a question as he was about to sit back
down, “So, does all of this give you any ideas, Gilbert?” When he blanched and
stood perfectly still, she giggled under her breath. “Sorry, but it had to be
asked.”
Grissom
shook his head and was finally able to take his seat, “Elizabeth, you never
cease to amaze me.”
“Just
don’t be foolish, Gil.” She turned her gaze back to the others as they were
dancing at the center of the garden. “Too many mistakes are made by doing
nothing… Wasted opportunities are the greatest tragedy of mankind.”
He
noticed the faraway look in her eyes and wondered what she could be referring
to. He followed her gaze and realized that she was watching Catherine dancing
with Sam. “I’m not following you,” he said as he looked back at Elizabeth.
“Mike should be here.” Her face was a
complete void of emotion for an instant, and it nearly broke Grissom’s heart to
see it. Then she turned back to face him and gave him a weak smile.
“I’m
sure he was... In one way or another.” Grissom laid his hand over hers for
reassurance.
“If
we had not wasted so much time on propriety, he could have walked down that
aisle and danced with our girl today.” She then looked directly into his eyes
and put her other hand on top of his forearm, “Don’t make our mistakes, Gil.”
She then moved her hand to his heart, as though she wanted drive home her words
with her touch, “Learn that lesson
the easy way.” As the words left her lips, a lone tear made its way down her
cheek and she stood to leave him with her parting advice.
He
was still processing the wisdom that had just been shared with him when he felt
the presence of another at his side. He turned to find a slender, obviously
winded and stunning brown-haired beauty taking the seat next to him. The sight
of her nearly took his breath away, and when she leaned her head on his
shoulder after plopping down in the chair, next to him, he felt that
electricity passing over his skin once more. “So, how much longer are we here?”
He
almost missed the fact that she had been talking to him, and he had to ask her
to repeat herself, “I’m sorry, what?”
She
smiled at his question, “In your head again, Gris?” He shrugged to show that he
had been caught, “I just wanted to know when you felt it would be safe to
leave, this time.”
He
sat up a little straighter and was trying to size up the situation, because her
question had confused him a little, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,
sure.” It was Sara’s turn to shrug.
“Then
why is ‘Miss Life of the Party’ set to go already?” Before she could answer
him, Nick walked up to the table where they were sitting.
“Hey
Boss.” He was carrying a small gym bag and a CSI vest in his hands, “Here ya go,
Sar… You left these in the Tahoe.”
“Oh
yeah, thanks, Nicky.” She took the things from him and stashed them under her
chair. And then she returned her attention to the younger man with the obvious
circles under his eyes, “You gonna be okay to drive home?”
He
sloughed off her question, “No problemo… Super Dave and his fiancé are ridin’
back with me, so I’m golden.” He stifled a yawn as he was talking.
She
smiled at him, and that was when Grissom noticed that she also looked very
tired. “Well, you go home and get some sleep. We should have everything back
from the lab by the time shift comes around tomorrow night, so I need you
awake.” She winked at him and he laughed at her joke.
“Well,
have a good time, and congrats. Glad everything’s workin’ out ‘round here.” He
waved them both goodbye and walked back down the path to the driveway.
“What’s
up with Nick?” Grissom looked her in the eyes when he questioned the scene he
had just witnessed.
“Oh,
nothing unusual really… We just ended up pulling a double to get our last scene
processed.” Sara actually looked a little more tired just with giving him that
explanation.
Grissom
placed a hand over hers, “So, you haven’t slept yet?” She just smiled at him.
“Sara, why didn’t you say anything?”
She
looked at him with a shocked expression before answering, “Are you kidding? I
wasn’t missing this thing even if I had worked all the way up to getting here.
I probably would have left a scene unprocessed to get here on time.” Grissom’s
face was replete with incredulity at her remarks. “Don’t look at me like that…
I already screwed up at the bridal party, if I had messed this one up, I’d have
gotten my head blown off.” That was when he started laughing. Slow at first,
but it built up into a full blown belly laugh by the time it hit its apex.
Sara, however, was a little irritated at his laughter and she leaned back in
her chair and crossed her arms over her chest, “I’m glad you think this is
funny.”
He
shook his head and put a hand on her knee to try and reassure her, “No, it’s
not that… I was just had the most unbelievable image of Stephanie in her
wedding dress, chasing you around the grounds with a shovel.”
Sara
pursed her lips, as she tried to suppress her own grin, “Yeah, well that was
the same image I was trying to avoid.” Her words brought the joke home even
more and the smile started to curl the corner of her mouth. “It’s still not
funny.” Grissom held his mouth with his other hand, as he attempted to stifle
his laughter, “Okay, so maybe it is a little funny.” She leaned forward and
rested her head on his shoulder again.
Reaching
back to put his arm around her waist, he turned and lifted her chin up to get a
good look at her sleep deprived eyes, “Okay, let’s get you to bed.” Without
even a moment’s hesitation, Sara’s eyes lit up a little at his statement. “For
sleep, woman.”
She
rolled her eyes and shrugged him off, “Fine; for starters.” She reached down
and retrieved the items from underneath her seat as Grissom stood and held out
his hands. At first, she was not sure what he wanted, but then she realized he
was trying to take the bag and vest off her hands.
He
slung the bag over his shoulder, laid the vest over his arm and then offered
her the other arm. She shook her head as she used the proffered arm to rise
from her seat and then said, “Man, this chivalry thing takes some getting used
to.” Grissom simply smiled as she wrapped her arm around his elbow and grabbed
his upper arm with the other hand and squeezed, “So, your place or mine?”
In
a blaring second, the entire week flashed into a single memory through his
mind’s eye, and it was punctuated by his old friend’s words: Too many mistakes are made by doing nothing…
Wasted opportunities are the greatest tragedy of mankind. Instantly, Gil
Grissom knew exactly what